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Warner Music CEO Warns Wireless Industry The iPhone Could Win The Mobile Music Market

Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. walked into the 3GSM World Congress today and pointed right at the pink elephant in the room: The iPhone. Bronfman warned the industry that if it cannot improve mobile music services, it could lose the market to Apple.

Bronfman said that while there are millions of music phones on the global market, only 8.8% of users of these handsets have ever downloaded a music track over the air. Why? Because carrier mobile music services are too expensive and too hard to use.

Ouch. Score one for Apple.

"Apple has raised the bar in terms of what users expect," Bronfman said.

While that may be the case, Apple has yet to, you know, actually release a working mobile phone, much less a fully useable version of iTunes that works over the air on a carrier network.

The wireless industry here in Barcelona has had mixed reactions to the iPhone. On one hand, many execs are clearly scared Apple will steal the mobile content market. On the other hand, some insiders remain confident that Apple's first iPhones will be far from flawless, due to the company's inexperience with making cell phones.

You can bet this debate will carry over to CTIA next month in Orlando.

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