According to Tim Green, executive editor of Mobile Entertainment - a mobile content industry magazine - network operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone had "envisaged" a future centred on listening to tracks paid for via their own portals.
However, he added that it has not worked out that way at all and what may interest optoelectronics firms who supply handset vendors is his assertion that downloading music via phones "hasn't really gone anywhere".
The expert observed that, during this time, the popularity of iTunes has remained constant and Amazon's own portal is helping to solidify the "whole notion" of getting music to a user's PC.
This follows research from comScore that revealed just eight per cent of people who listen to tracks via their mobile devices downloaded them directly to their phone.
