Spotify phones coming soon?

2 years of "co-operation" promised between Spotify and Telia

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8 October 2009 10:39 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Spotify has announced that it has signed a deal with Swedish broadband supplier and mobile network Telia. The two companies have agreed to "co-operate" for 2 years, with Telia helping to develop the streaming music service on computers, mobile phones and eventually onto TVs.

Telia's head of mobility services, Erik Hallberg, told Pocket-lint: "Swedish people love music and for the connected generation, being able to take their favorite music with them wherever they go is a given. That is why we are making preparations to launch Spotify mobile phones, which will make it even easier to get started and listen to music wherever and whenever you want to".

The suggestion of dedicated Spotify phones is interesting, assuming that they're much like the Skype phones available in the UK from 3. Currently, one in nine of Sweden's population are Spotify users, according to the streaming music service's stats released on their first birthday, so rollout could be relatively painless.

Telia says that its customers will be the first to get access to TV services in Sweden. The release issued by Telia says: "In a few months, Telia and Spotify will launch a mobile offering to customers in the Swedish market", so we're taking that to mean the cost of Premium will be bundled in with the subscription fees to Telia.

As for the UK, no such deals have been announced, though we wouldn't be surprised if talks were ongoing. We'll keep you posted of any developments on that front.

UPDATE: In response to our question as to whether Spotify was in talks with carriers in the UK, the company confirmed: "Spotify-branded phones - yes, in the works". More news will apparently follow soon.

UPDATE 2: INQ has been rumoured as the company that are making the handsets. That wouldn't be out of the realms of possibility, we reckon.

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