Nokia is understood to be close to adding its music download service onto its N96 device. However, in a move likely to disappoint loyal customers, the Comes With Music service will not be made available to those who have already bought the N96. Not good for customer loyalty, Nokia.

Sales of handsets featuring the unlimited music download service are quite slow, according to staff at Carphone Warehouse (the only retailer selling the original devices), so this move is even more of a head-scratcher.

New batches of the N96 device pre-loaded with Comes With Music are expected to go on sale after Christmas in a bid to kick-start sales after the holidays (before the holidays might have been a better idea, but…that’s why i’m not a corporate CEO, I suppose).

Staff at Carphone said they fear anger and backlash from customers who have already bought the N96 but will not have the music service made available to them, and I don’t blame them the staff or the customers for feeling that way.

Nokia is understood to be working on plans to pacify existing N96 customers who are set to miss out on the music service. Carphone staff said Nokia should have either launched Comes With Music with an all -new design or ‘something priced at around £70’. I agree.

The service is currently only available on the Nokia 5310 and N95 8GB. The manufacturer is understood to have spent around £10 million in promoting its music download service, which is a lot in this economic climate, so the snub of existing customers (for a phone that already isn’t selling well) is a big mystery.

Nokia hinted that the service would be offered on other devices very shortly. It is understood the manufacturer initially wanted to launch the service on the the Nokia 5800, a new touch-screen device. The handset will go on sale Jan/Feb of next year with the Comes With Music service included standard.