Samsung Korea has announced the Samsung A707. The A707 is the replacement to Samsung ZX20 in Cingular’s lineup, and adds several new features, such as A2DP Headphone support, color external Caller ID display, and PlaysForSure support. Based on the addition of PFS on the device, some are reporting that this may indicate that Cingular will launch a new Music Store.
Cingular currently has a PlaysForSure Music Store, the mMode Music Store, which Cingular inherited from AT&T Wireless. Cingular can use such rights to deploy PlaysForSure on phones without any added investment, and would put it directly in competition with Sprint and Verizon. Verizon uses an end-to-end PlaysForSure model, while Sprint uses PlaysForSure on PC Download backups of its music.However, Real may have a stake in Cingular’s music future as well. Unconfirmed reports from Korea indicate that Samsung has added Real Rhapsody support to the device. Real powers Cingular Video, the video-on-demand service for Cingular 3G devices. Cingular may be willing to share profits with Rhapsody in exchange for not having to forgo expansion in its own market.
The A701 on Telstra will be headed to Cingular as the A707…
