Full track music downloads from Sprint Nextel

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Sprint Nextel is the first U.S. operator to offer full-track music downloads, launching a dual-delivery service using Samsung and Sanyo phones. The service is one of several offerings Sprint rolled out on its CDMA2000 1x EV-DO network, which it is marketing as the Power Vision Network. Sprint noted the Power Vision service is expected to cover 130 million potential customers by the middle of next month and more than 150 million pops by early next year.

Sprint also announced an "on demand" offering that delivers custom information such as news, sports and weather, based on users' ZIP codes, and information services including directory search, maps and driving directions. While other U.S. operators offer music-focused phones that can store and play music transferred from PCs, Sprint is the first to deliver downloads directly to handsets.

Sprint said it will charge $2.50 per download to subscribers of its Vision service, which starts at $15 a month. Songs will be formatted specifically for the phone or PC.

The supporting handsets from Samsung and Sanyo are also the first consumer-oriented EV-DO handsets launched by Sprint. The carrier offers a pair of EV-DO PC cards and earlier this year launched an EV-DO smart phone.