Vodafone moved today to spoil iPhone’s imminent UK launch by presenting itself as the exclusive partner of an ambitious rival mobile music service, MusicStation.

The mobile giant revealed that MusicStation — which gives users access to more than one million tracks for a flat rate of £1.99 a week — will be available to its 17 million customers from November.

The tie-up was announced only days ahead of an expected announcement from Apple about the launch of its iPhone in the UK.

Vodafone is believed to have lost out on a deal with the Californian group to sell the much-hyped phone in the UK to rival, O2.

MusicStation, which has been four years in the making, is regarded by analysts as a serious contender in the mobile music market.

Omnifone, the company behind it, has signed deals with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, EMI Music and Warner Music International as well as a range of independent labels.

It has also signed deals with 30 mobile operators including Telenor in Sweden.

Users in the UK will need to be on the Vodafone network but will not need to pay the hundreds of pounds for an iPhone that Apple is expected to charge. In addition Apple's music store, iTunes, charges 79p per single track downloads.

However, users of the MusicStation service will be unable to move their own music collection onto the service and the music they have downloaded will be locked if they stop paying the weekly subscription.

Omnifone, a private company, and the mobile operators which have signed-up to the servicem hope the flat-rate fee will stoke mass-market consumption of music over the mobile.

After shelling out £22.5 billion for the licences to operate “next-generation” 3G services in 2000, mobile operators are still waiting to reap the returns.

Revenue from the service is to be shared between Omnifone, the music labels and the mobile operators.

Last week, Apple cut the price of the iPhone in the U.S. by 33 per cent. The move, just 68 days after its launch there, fuelled fears amongst analysts about whether it is living up to expectations. The $200 cut, to $399, was unprecedented for an Apple product in its speed.

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