Spotify and 3 have formally announced the partnership that Pocket-lint detailed last week. As previously reported, 3 will begin selling the HTC Hero with a Premium Spotify subscription bundled in - which normally costs £10 per month.

The tariff costs £35 per month over 24 months, and you'll have to pay £100 upfront too, so it's not cheap. For that, though, you get 24 months of Spotify Premium, 750 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited mobile internet. You can also get free calls to other 3 users and to people on Skype. We presume the Spotify app will be preloaded on the handset.

There's more handsets in the works too - "Spotify Mobile will initially be available only on the HTC Hero" says the press release, the keyword being "initially". With an S60 version in the works, could we see an N97 bundled with the service in the future? Or even perhaps even an iPhone if 3 eventually makes a deal with Apple.

Want a quote about the whole thing? Of course you do. Faisal Galaria, Global Head of Business Development at Spotify, told Pocket-lint: "This is a very exciting deal for Spotify. We're intent on offering people a high quality, simple yet powerful portable music experience at a fair price and we're thrilled to be working with 3 to bring Spotify to UK music fans".

If you're considering the deal, let us know in the comments. You might also be interested in our HTC Hero review, and our comparison of the iPhone and Android Spotify apps.

UPDATE: Spotify has blogged about the deal, but hasn't added much, except to provide a working link to the page on 3's website to "register your interest" in grabbing the handset.

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