[Sony Music to offer O2 customers pre-release singles two weeks ahead of CDs being available in stores. O2 launches the Siemens SX1 Music handset for use with this new service.]

mmO2's German operation, O2 Germany, today announced that it is co-operating with Sony Music Germany to offer customers new singles two weeks ahead of the CDs hitting the shelves in shops. To coincide with the deal - the broadest such agreement signed to date - O2 Germany also launched today the first integrated digital music player and mobile phone, the Siemens SX1 Music.

In addition to the exclusive pre-release singles, more than 35,000 songs on the Sony music label will now be available for download from O2 Germany's online music shop, which also offers a selection of more than 100,000 tracks from other leading publishers and is the first service of its kind in the German market. Tracks may be downloaded for as little as 99 euro cents.

Balthasar Schramm, president of Sony Music Entertainment, GSA, said: "In the future, the marketing of music as a download or stream will be an essential component of the music business. O2 is the first mobile communications company to offer songs for downloading onto users' handsets. That is innovative and points the way ahead. Music downloads via mobile connections will soon be the norm - at high quality, direct to the mobile player and paid for via the phone bill. We are delighted to be taking this pioneering path together with our partner O2."

The new SX1 Music handset, which will retail in Germany from EUR 149.99, comes with a replaceable 128 MB memory board that can accommodate some 120 songs. Storage capacity can be increased further through the use of standard memory boards.

Rudolf Grager, chief executive officer of O2 Germany, added: "The cooperation with Sony Music and launch of the Siemens SX1 Music builds on our lead in this market following the launch last month in Germany and the UK of the existing standalone Digital Music Player which is already proving hugely popular with customers."

In addition to Sony Music and to provide the very best music available, mmO2 has, in a world-first, already partnered with global brand MTV and some of the largest music providers in the world, including BMG, Edel, Kontor, Universal, AIM (Independent record labels) and Warner Music International. O2 Germany also has a deal with VIVA, enabling customers to download songs from the number one German chart as well as having accessing to the VIVA MMS information service.

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