Ericsson, Napster Sign U.K. Music Agreement

Updated from 11:06 a.m. EDT

Cell-phone maker Ericsson (ERIC Quote) has joined up with Napster (NAPS Quote) to offer mobile music downloading as an alternative to the iTunes store on Apple's (AAPL Quote) iPhone in the U.K.

Napster and Ericsson said Friday they have jointly launched the Napster Mobile music service with wireless carrier O2 in Britain, making the downloading service available to more than 18 million subscribers. The service will allow users to purchase any of the 5 million songs from Napster's online catalog directly from Ericsson's handsets. A copy of the song will also be available for download on users' PCs.

"We look forward to delivering a superior mobile music experience to O2 U.K.'s customers, along with the largest mobile music catalog available. It's the perfect extension of Napster's online service in the U.K.," said Napster head Brad Duea.

Ericsson will be responsible for systems integration, operations, maintenance and content management of the music service. Last month, Ericcson and Napster announced an agreement to bring the Napster Mobile service to Latin America with Chilean operator Entel PCS.

"We're happy to see this second launch of Napster Mobile in the O2 group, following that of O2 Ireland in 2006," said Jacqueline Hey, Ericsson U.K.'s managing director. "Music is an important area for telecom operators, and we believe that O2 UK's subscribers will find this a very attractive service."

Ericsson was lower by 16 cents, or 0.8%, at $20.04. Napster was tacking on 8 cents, or 4.8%, to $1.74.

Know What You Own: Ericsson operates in the communication equipment industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include Alcatel-Lucent (ALU Quote), Motorola (MOT Quote) and Nokia (NOK Quote). These stocks were recently trading at ($5.28, -4.86%), ($9.60, -2.64%) and ($31.47, -3.70%) respectively. For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's Investing A-to-Z section.