8 November 2005 11:19 GMT / By Stuart Miles
Mobile phone downloads are likely to get a big push in Japan and eventually the UK following the announcement that Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is to buy a majority stake in Tower Records Japan.According to The Register - the telecommunications company said it will pay ¥12.8bn ($108.84m) for a 42% stake in the privately held retailer which was founded by the US record store chain in August 1979 but since October 2002 has been an entirely independent entity.
DoCoMo will initially provide Tower's 100 Japanese stores with pay-by-phone systems allowing consumers to purchase music and have it billed to their FeliCa mobile phone accounts.
NTT DoCoMo is the operator behind O2's i-mode system launched in the UK last month.
Via The Register Phones, Apps, Music downloads, NTT DoCoMo, Audio
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