Photo Credit: Deezer
Deezer comes pre-installed on a new pair of USB-C earbuds – sideloading the music app on Android.
Deezer is targeting Samsung Galaxy device owners with the new promotion, which is interesting. Spotify comes pre-installed on Samsung devices through a partnership with Samsung. But these USB-C earbuds ‘sideload’ Deezer onto recent phones like the Samsung Galaxy 21, Note 20, or the Samsung Z Flip.
You don’t have to visit the Google Play Store to install Deezer – just plug in the USB-C earbuds. It’s an interesting tactic that could give Deezer an edge over Spotify, which relies on being the default music streaming service on Samsung devices. Deezer says the earbuds will work with any Galaxy device through the Galaxy S10 and the Note 10. (Samsung devices from 2019 or newer.)
These Mobee.K earbuds also offer a Deezer-themed takeover of your device. It includes a customized Deezer theme of wallpapers, exclusive playlists, and shortcuts to Deezer on the phone’s home screen for Samsung users only.
That last bit sounds somewhat awful rather than beneficial. I don’t want advertising taking over my phone when I plug in a pair of earbuds to go running in the morning. It will be interesting to see if the strategy helps Deezer penetrate the US streaming market, which Apple Music and Spotify dominate.
Even if you’re not a fan of Deezer, the USB-C earbuds will worth with any smartphone, tablet, or laptop. This is an interesting marketing strategy and one that couldn’t be employed when the 3.5mm headphone jack was the dominant audio jack. This idea could easily backfire, though – there’s nothing stopping Spotify and Apple from doing the same.
These earbuds are cheap enough, and they come with a three-month Deezer HiFi promotional offer. New users can sign up to Deezer and enjoy offline listening and unlimited skips of music. It’s a great way to get users interested in a HiFi music subscription, but I’m not sure how great high fidelity music will sound on a pair of sub-$30 earbuds.
The push for HiFi music subscriptions is becoming a focus as music streaming companies need to diversify their revenue streams. Charging more for masters-quality audio is already the bread and butter of Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music. Spotify even supports high-fidelity audio – something it scoffed at in the past as unnecessary for the average music listener. Hardware promotions may help increase the adoption of HiFi subscriptions if they sound great.