Samsung launches Music Hub as iTunes rival

LONDON: Samsung has launched a new music service on the Galaxy S3, its flagship smartphone that rolls out across Europe, to boost its appeal in competition with top devices like Apple's iPhone. TJ Kang, senior vice president of Samsung Electronics' Media Solution Center, said it was the first time the company had created its own music service from scratch. "Samsung is not known for our content services; we make good hardware products but we haven't done much in the content space but that's changing," he told Reuters. "We are doing it to create a better experience for our users. There are things we could do better if we have complete control over all of the service." The company has previously rebranded existing music and video services on its devices, where they compete with music stores from the likes of Google and Amazon and streaming services such as Spotify and Pandora Media. Fred Huet at Greenwich Consulting said the mobile phone was increasingly at the heart of a lot more media consumption, and Apple had established a formidable lead. "A lot of the other players are still trying to find the magic formula that can use to counter iTunes," he said. Samsung's Music Hub Premium allows users to upload music to the cloud and access it from a PC and up to five mobile devices as well as stream songs for 9.99 pounds or euros a month, said Daren Tsui, chief executive of developer mPpot, which Samsung bought earlier this month. Users will also be able to buy tunes from a 19 million song catalogue, with prices comparable to iTunes, he said.