European cell phone carriers are striking (back) ahead of the release of the iPhone with a music rental service called MusicStation. The service was launched Thursday in Sweden by Omnifone, with plans to launch throughout the rest of Europe in the coming weeks. The service has agreements with some 30 carriers, is priced at �2.99 (US$3.98) per week, and will allow users to download unlimited numbers of tracks, or at least as many tracks as will fit on their phones.

In other words, in order to compete with iPhone, an iconic mobile phone design that has garnered more buzz and been responsible for more hype than anything since the iPod, mobile phone carriers are launching a music rental service of their very own. The service will require new handsets with MusicStation support, and Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson are all making compatible devices.

"They will be in stores on a wide variety of handsets -- Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung -- giving European consumers the ability to access their music from anywhere," Omnifone Chief Executive Rob Lewis told The Associated Press. "We’ve got to market first and ahead of the iPhone by many, many months."

Mr. Lewis’s timing refers to Europe, where MusicStation is being offered. The iPhone is being launched in the U.S. on June 29th, but will see European and world-wide rollouts later in 2007.

Perhaps not unexpectedly, music labels are very much in favor of this new service, as its music-rental business model has long been sought by the labels.

"It’s hard to imagine a more compelling music experience on mobile than MusicStation. It works on almost any phone, giving consumers the freedom to choose whatever device they want," Rob Wells, senior vice president, digital, at Universal Music Group told the AP. "It allows downloads wherever those consumers are, providing the freedom to access music whenever they want. And it gives users unlimited access to our and other labels catalogues, all for a fixed weekly fee that includes data."