Spotify launches iPhone and Android mobile services

An Apple iPhone is displayed at the Apple store in central London, September 18, 2007. .

LONDON (Reuters) - Spotify, the much-hyped European digital music service, has secured a deal to launch a mobile offering on Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and phones using the Android platform, it said on Monday.

Sweden's Spotify said a mobile application was now available for its premium subscribers in the UK, Sweden, Spain, France and Norway on the three devices, and in Finland for owners of the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The application will allow premium users to access millions of tracks from the service, previously only available via a computer, wherever they go.

Spotify has won plaudits from the music industry, which has been hammered by piracy, for offering a better and smoother alternative to illegal sites. It has more than 6 million users in Europe and over 5 million tracks available.

Users of the service can either listen to music for free and in exchange for watching adverts, or pay a premium fee of 9.99 pounds ($16.37) a month to avoid the ads.

"This is a hugely significant day in Spotify's short history," said Gustav Söderström, director of portable solutions at Spotify. "Since our launch last October, we've worked hard to provide our users with a high quality service that gives them access to whatever music they want, whenever they want it."

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Rupert Winchester)