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Apple, Motorola Plan An iTunes-Friendly Phone
PabloJones writes "Apple and Motorola have come together to create a new mp3-enabled cell phone, according to this Reuters article. It says that the device will be capable of storing about 12 songs, and will be fully integrated with iTunes. Perhaps this is a beginning of a new relationship between the two companies, after the PowerPC problems between the two in recent years."
It sounds like a great idea, I have to say I have been wating for such a cellphone for a while. I do have a few potential issues though. Battery life and size. While the Palm Cell phones were cool, they would eat a battery in about an hour and were about as sleek as carrying a forty pound rock.
I thought that the whole reason Apple was winning because they weren't selling 12-song devices.
Didn't apple used to own the iPhone domain name? If so, let's see how much they pay to get it back!
or is it ?
12 songs? like an... album? what do they got in their, a hamster? it can't possibly be that hard to find somewhere to stuff a couple more MP3s in a cell phone. why so stingy?
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
I don't know why this couldn't be the iPhone. Co-branding is in Apple's past.
Then again, one could read that this announcement came from Motorola's web site as an indication that it won't be the last deal with a phone manufacturer. Maybe the iPhone is just further down the road.
Apple has done this before.
The Quicktake 200 Camera was a Fuji DS7 camera - they were no different. The Apple Quicktake however used a better JPEG compression technology (read as quicktime) - that was especially developed for the Quicktake. Apple also created it's own system level camera reading and editting software.
I think this could represent a possible new hardware direction and unlike many have suggested I think this DOES possibly mean an Iphone from Apple could be in the works. Except this time, unlike the iPod that is Windows and Mac; the iPhone will be for Macs ONLY, the Moto version will be for everyone else.
Semi unrelated - a smaller footprint of iTunes would also be easier to emulate - possibly giving Linux a better shot at a quality iTunes solution.
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
...from their failure to license the Mac technology. This time around, their going to license their iPod technology to every Tom, Dick and Harry and establish it as an industry standard.
Good for them!
The multi-million dollar cell-phone ringer market just SHIT ITS PANTS.
*squirt* *plop*
If people can pop some songs onto their phone, why pay a dollar or two for a 10 second clip that sounds like it was recorded on an 8-trak?
hehe. Fuck'em.
until I can get ALL the functionality of both devices in one package.
With only 12 songs, I'd still need my iPod for real music needs. Will the phones have headphone jacks? I sure don't want to listen to music from a single crappy phone speaker.
While this is a step in the right direction, it's not enough.
When I can fully replace my iPod, cell phone, and PDA with one device, i'll buy.
First of all, the 48mb seems a little odd to me. I guess it's a 64mb device, with 16 used for the phone's OS/address book/ringtones/etc. But more importantly, why not make it hold 74 minutes of music. One full CD. I think that would be ideal for tiny storage. That would be 74mb, and if you include the 16 for the phone's other requirements you get 90 megs. That means that using 96 mb of memory on the phone, you could hold the OS and such, and 80 minutes of audio. Seems fantastic to me.
That said, I have three other comments. First, how 'bout bluetooth so you can use your Bluetooth headset to listen to music? Second, will the memory be expandable? That would be great. Third, can you use your files (MP3, AAC, etc) as ringtones? Those would be three nice things.
It will be interesting to see how all this pans out.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Press Release from Motorola
Yes, I understand that might be considered karma whoring, but at least it's informative. Enjoy.
-s4xton
My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
Now how freakin' cool would it be, when you put a freind on hold to take another call, poop, etc. It would play the music (in a somewhat reduced qaulity) like companies do when they put you on hold. just remember to properly liscense it.
Of course we'll get iPod-phones someday. But I'm still waiting to be uploaded to a computer. All your data will be a thought away, not a click away. I've already started on the transhuman route (check my sig).
-I am an elective eunuch.
Call me (no pun intended) when it has a 40GB hard drive.
The hell with an iTunes Moto phone - I want an Apple mobile phone. It's time for Apple to shake up the mobile device market again with a leap to something that competes with the Treo 600, with fancy HW and a UI so simple it's legal to use while driving. C'mon, Jobs - you've reinvented a better Walkman, now let's see you reinvent a better PC on top of that!
--
make install -not war
songs on the phones, what's the point in buying an iPod?
Quite sensible really, if they want to continue with the iPod, which I'm sure they do.
Well if we're lucky, the phones will be just about able to play songs encoded at 8Kbps speed. Of course when doing this the phones will be running hot as hell and you won't be able to hold or carry one... but don't worry, the next generation of phones will be able to play 9Kbps songs and will only be about 20 degrees hotter than the current ones when playing songs.
AC comments get piped to
So...do you suppose the phone will be available in colors other than white?
The Nokia 6230 (and the forthcoming 6260) are somewhat more impressive, using interchangeable MMCs to store up to and above 128Mb of data. And I don't think iTunes compatibility is a great reason to endure such lousy storage capacity.
I admit I didn't RTFA and only the /. byline, but only 12 songs?
There are sell-fones that have long been in existance with built-in MP3, WMA, and WAV players that accept high-capcity removable memory-stick storage (128mb+). Like the Sony-Ericsson P800 & P900. These phones are GPRS and Bluetooth enabled, natch (and yes, that's enough bandwidth to transfer some content). Undoubtedly there are a few that take CF as well.
If 12 songs is the most they're going to offer you, when it's abundantly clear that's lightyears off of the current technical ceiling, then someone's trying to screw us (surprise).
Err, to be successful, it also need to be cheep.
somewhat reduced quality? Have you listened to the crap they play when they put you on hold? Pretty much anything in my music collection is going to be better quality than the cheesy muzak they normally put on there.....
They're not exactly the hottest name in cellphones right now.
I just see another device that doesn't need to be combined with a phone. I just want my phone to make calls and maybe sync contacts with my computer. Phone battery life barely lasts long enough for some days, even without all the fancy gadgets. Putting two good things together doesn't always make a better product. It's like the one Simpsons where Homer is eating out of a can and it says, "Gum and Nuts: Together at Last."
Um, my phone barely makes it through the day on its extended life battery. How the heck is it going to last all day if I use it as my music source as well?
I might be alone, but I really prefer a Sidekick (or Blackberry, I spose...) for my net, email and PDA functions and my cell for phone calls and little else. Other than the occasional game of Jeopardy, I rarely use my cell for much besides a mobile phone.
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
OK, fine, running PalmOS. But please do it!! Of course, we all know Apple won't, because Jobs doesn't think Apple can rule the phone/pda market. The thing is, we all know that if Apple spent twenty minutes thinking about it, they could come up with a device that blows away what's out there. Treos are cool, but such things try to do too much and do it all in a mediocre manner. Apple could easily combine the simplicity of their interfaces with the tools required.
Here's one message I wish cell phone manufacturers would get .... there is no necessary reason a cell phone must look like a phone. It doesn't have to be cradled in my neck in a way that distracts me from driving AND screws up my spine. Make a headset essential and build a device that has a more practical shape for what it does. Then build different shaped devices for different needs (and then maybe I can finally get my dream emate-2)!
The poster of the story got it a bit wrong. It's not a dozen songs, it is dozenS of songs. So think more like a couple of albums worth, not one album worth of songs.
Remember that most songs will probably be full 128 kbit iTunes Music Store AAC files. Judging from the songs I've bought from the iTMS each song will take up around 3.5 MB so a dozen will take 42 MB. That adds up pretty quick. You could fit about 36 songs onto a 128 MB flash card, which sounds reasonable for a flash-based cell phone/MP3 player.
Sapere aude!
A 12-song player is not all that exciting. However, if they make it so you can download songs to it over the phone, then it becomes a lot more interesting. Keep your collection on your home computer with your always-on broadband connection, and grab songs 12 at a time for playback on the phone.
Can I rip a cell phone conversation to MP3?
It's funny to see so many people griping about the 12 song capacity of the phone. Lets not forget all the cries of "why the hell would anyone want to buy an iPod when you can get something so much cheaper?" Then the iPod Mini came out and instead of griping about it competing against the product from another company, they cried "but who will buy this? Why not spend $50 more and get a full size iPod that holds so much more music?"
C'mon people. Have faith in Apple. They seem to know what they're doing (finally...we'll just forget about the Cube...). When your son or daughter (who probably helped put the iPod Mini on the 25 year (slight exaggeration) waiting list is at the wireless store comparing phones, are they going to be looking at the phones that have no ring-tone options, crappy ring-tone options, or the cool new phone that plays music from iTunes (considering they probably already own an iPod and iPod Mini).
I see a lot of "12 song only" complaints but I bet three months after release, this will be a wildly popular phone.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
The real iPhone will be when Apple makes an official bluetooth remote. I've got a Sony Ericsson T610 and it's amazingly useful for controlling VLC and iTunes from my couch, but current cell phones weren't meant to be used like this. If Apple designed a bluetooth phone with nicely laid out iTunes/DVD remote features, I'd be first in line to buy one.
Mods on crack or Taco doesn't appreciate criticism.
Go jerk off to fetchmail.
Why so miopic - How about a subscription service to 12 news sources, International, Local, sports, finance etc. that updates daily/hourly to the phone..., something analogous to a .mac account on iTunes. Text alerts on Steroids.
Everyone is screwing around trying to build digital newsprint, ebooks etc... I love getting my books etc. on CD etc.
Once more... a paradigm shift - text messaging/alerts - obsolete - just like that:)
Welcome to Slashdot, Cynical haven.
Remember, Slashdotters panned the iPod when it was introduced. They're doing exactly the same thing here. I really get a kick out of reading some of these braindead posts.
Battery life!
OGG!
What? Only 12 songs?!
It's not a Newton!
Apple is dying!
I won't buy it until it has X feature
AAC sucks, X format r0x0rs yo!
Okay okay, so some people are posting positive comments, but they seem to get lost in the pointless hand waving from the haters. Thanks everybody - In a years time, this phone will be a success and you'll STILL be bitching about not having OGG support on X device.
What exactly are people supposed to use this for? 12 songs is 48 minutes. You're not going to connect it to your car and listen to it on the way to work. You're not going to hold the phone up to your ear for minutes at a time just so you can listen to some nice music (that is the same every time). It's way overkill for fancy ring tones. The speaker sucks, compared to the iPod earphones; it's designed for phone quality, not CD quality. Ever been confused whether you were listening to hold music on the phone or your car stereo? Me neither.
Two years ago, Chris Galvin was at the healm of Motorola, now it is Ed Zander. To say that the difference is night and day would still be an understatement. Ed Zander actually works for a living. The market knows this, and so does Apple.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
So what's the deal with this iTunes thing? Is it good or is it whack?
Motorola should cooperate with Apple, by licensing the Newton OS and use it as the OS of it's cellphones. It is definately a win-win situation. From my exp(I am a programmer on mobile platform), Motorola's OS is one of the most buggy OS while comparing to Nokia and SE. By using Newton OS, it should be able to migrate to a much stable platform. On the other hand, Apple didn't break their promise(no more PDA). And lastly, WE HAVE OUR NEWTON BACK FINALLY!!!!
The PowerPC or semiconductor division of Motorola has been spun-off. It's now Freescale Semiconductor, a freely operating entity. Motorola without the semiconductor division is planning this new cellphone/i-pod.
Fyi. Working at Motorola sucks. Low pay, lower benefits every minute. Culture and morale is near the toilet... Great quarter everyone! Now please read the reduced severance plan as it's going to hurt as I stick it to you!
Why don't you guys (Apple and Motorola) get your act together and allow me to sync my Address Book with my Moto V400?
"What's his number again? I dunno but listen to that great Britney mix."
(finally...we'll just forget about the Cube...)
I bought a Cube (500mhz) the day they came out (waited five months, but oh well.)
It still sits on my wife's desk, working faithfully and silently, handling her little business and the house bills, along with her mail, browsing and Office stuff. It's 802.11b, and has never had a touch of trouble.
It still gets compliments and "what the heck is that?" comments, and still will get $550-$600 on ebay.
Nothing wrong with the Cube at all...people just wanted a better, more flexible desktop, satisfied with the G5 I'm typing on.
Cubes rocked!
"The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
Using a phone to play music, especially if its the great AAC quality of the iPod means that the battery life will be short.
Perhaps they meant to say it will play, not 12 songs, but 12 minutes....
BTW, will the Motorola play the music as well as the iPod? The iPod's stereo circuitry is most excellent, which is why people love it so much (aside from the cool design).
Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
Curious... I've never heard of them receiving a royalty.
"There ought to be limits to freedom"
After the way Apple treated Motorola during their time selling StarMax Mac clones, I'm much suprised that anyone at Motorola would even consider collaborating with Apple on a product again.
Perhaps it will look like the new Motorola V3 just introduced?
o r- reviewed-018264.php
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/motorola-v3-raz
Very thin and cool. This could be an Apple iPod phone, the way it looks, plus its got a PDA color screen.
Roger Born
writing.borngraphics.com
MP3 player with iTunes support
Browser that supports WAP, HTML, Frames, Flash, Shockwave, Tabbed Browsing, and thumb-guestures
8 MegaPixel camera with 6x optical zoom that takes SLR lenses
Calander and contacts that syncs with microsoft exchange
2.2" display with 65K colors and 480x640 resolution
802.11g and bluetooth (that works) with kismet
12 cell LiIon battery with 14 day standby and 6 hour talk time
media player capable of playing MOV, MPG2,4, AVI (divx and xvid), RM, DVD,
HDTV that syncs with your tivo, direct-tv, XP-MCE, or mythPC (sorry MyHTPC and freevo, not enough room in ROM)
Direct TV connection with 400 channels
Cheap custom ringtones that dont suck (no more paying 99 cents for a 50 cent ringtone)
Vibrate, Pulsate, Ultra-Vibrate, and Orgasmobrate (for her pleasure)
authentic TOS trek sound for when the clam shell flips open
Walkie-Talkie function that be used without speakphone
SDIO card for memory expansion
4G 1MB/s internet connection
RSS feeds on your "desktop"
9 button thats not pre-programmed to 911
full QWERTY thumbboard with touchpad
VNC, TightVNC, and Terminal Services
Vi, Emacs, Notepad, and that thing macs use
Powerpoint support with included VGA dongle for presentations
SMS, MMS, EMS, and PMS
synchronization support for pop3, imap4, and active-sync
drivers for linux (source included)
dual boot mode with windows CE and linux (2.7)
included sample cowboy neal ringtones
j2me, perl, and C# support
graphing calculator
Included USB cable makes phone act as USB flash drive on any PC (w2k+)
GPS with included geocaches
ability to turn reciever into promiscuious mode with ethercap
SSH (1,2) and Telnet clients that work!
1GHz Transmeta processor
Via Eden 600 MHz backup processor
dual blue cold cathodes with case window
Support for CD-R / RW, DVD-R-RW+R+RW-RAM, MMC, SD, CF, PCMCIA, and 5.25" (double density)
Did I miss anything...
Oh yeah, Phone. Maybe next revision, until then you can hook it up to your vonage box.
Ok, so I was only joking on a few of those things, but seriously some of these features need to be considered. I want an open platform phone that allows me to put RSS feeds on my "desktop" and can SSH and VNC into boxen (sp?)
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
Anyone notice that the iPod mini is about the same size as a cellphone.. and if it can store 4Gb of music and smaller hard drives available/round the corner, there's no reason why we won't have a phone that can stores gigs of music. (and remember, the phone circuitry +RF is not really *that* space consuming.)
"When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
Apple's in the entertainment business now -- extending the reach of your service/content is what it's all about. First BMW, now Motorola -- who's next?
It also makes me think that they're just testing the waters with this -- 12 songs is nothing. I'm thinking that data services (GPRS, etc.) fit in better with their business model -- especially with regard to syncing data. Also, 12 songs isn't a limitation if you have the data channel available to replace them at will -- a GPRS connection to your iDisk is all it would take.
It's also kind of funny that this was posted today...
-ch
Why does no one mention the possibility that this implies the ability to download songs from the iTMS directly to the phone.
A cell phone has the internet connection that the iPod lacks. The two can not be compared. Small capacity, yes, but I can download a song I want to hear RIGHT NOW.
Having the iTMS in my pocket is a groundbreaking concept. Considering the number of songs they've sold from PCs, imagine how many songs they would sell if the store was in your pocket all the time!
It looks like Steve Jobs got it wrong too. From the Reuters article:
"Wouldn't it be great if you could take a dozen of your favorite songs with you on your phone," Jobs said.
It looks like no one is really sure yet how many songs the phone will hold.
There were some rumors that Apple would sue Motorola for breach of contract once Apple fully migrated to the IBM processor; I don't think that's happened 100% yet, but Apple's pretty close. The suit would've been based on the grounds that Moto didn't give Apple the year warning they were required to that they were going to end their desktop PPC chip, which necessitated Apple scrambling to find a replacement--originally, IBM didn't have a lot of interest in supplying Apple, and only bolted on the AltiVec co-processor at a later date.
I strongly suspect that this relationship is related to terms to arise out of an out of court settlement between Moto and Apple--it's clearly no longer in Apple's interest to sue Moto, so this was worth something to Moto (if the suit had any merit; but it sounded like it may well have.)
I don't know if it's better for Apple or for Moto to play iTMS music on Moto phones; but it does mean that QT is there instead of WMA, which is indeed worth something to Apple. My hunch is that Apple was awarded this privilege for free, and in return they'd drop the suit.
--
$tar -xvf
Mods, +1 "Used Forfend Correctly"
If apple can successfully license the aac compression algorithm that they stand to make allot of money. it would also become a more viable alternative to MS audio compression. with the proceeds from licensing aac, there may be a little bit of a drop in ipod sales but most people buy ipod's based on aesthetics and the design. but in the end apples greatest failing is a business model partially based on fear. by locking down the market on hardware they loose the revenue from software licensing. with proper marketing aac and quicktime compression can become a consumer device standard.
IMHO Apple must cobrand with Sony instead, just check these P910 specifications
Samsung came out with an MP3 phone with 64 megs of storage (in the days when 128mb was considered large and 256mb unheard of) many years ago for Sprint, the Uproar. It never seemed to sell well even though it got pretty good reviews. The battery life was decent; 10 hours of playtime off a full charge, and the ring came over the headphones.
Here's a link.
beware the jabberwock, my son! the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
We can now play ipod songs on BMW car stereo. It would be cool if they extend this to all cars. Something like streaming songs using bluetooth..so that bluetooth enabled car stereos could play it.. or has it been done ??
What if your iPod could connect to the iTunes store where ever you are? You just download songs on the fly... anytime, any place...
hmmmm, cool?
if these phone companies can stop adding shit to their phones and just compete on getting a cheap fixed monthly rate for unlimited usage.
Seeing as the E398 Motorola phone already supports removable flash card (seen ones that can hold 96 mb at least), I doubt that the proposed phone w/iTunes support will be limited to only 12 songs. At the standard 5 mb a song this is 20 songs. And in a year I'm sure that the flash-industry will figure out a way to cram more memory into the size-format.
The really neat thing would be a phone with iTMS integration so you could buy songs on the go. This would alos help a lot with platform independence. If you don't have Windows or Mac OS X (the current iTunes platforms) then you can have a cellular phone that gives you access to iTMS.
At the rate that Apple is expanding their grip on the digital music scene, I'm starting to feel sorry for all those unfortunate Windows users with protected WMV files.
Seriously though - as proprietary access grows, people with little knowledge of such things are going to be severely confused and angry about it. Even though I'm an Apple fanatic, right about now is when even I start dedicating some of my big-corporation-distrust (usually reserved for Microsoft) towards Apple.
You mean like...the macintosh? :-)
Having the iTMS in my pocket is a groundbreaking concept.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, it's not a "groundbreaking concept". I've been doing nearly the same things for the last 8 months, using my Treo 600, a 512mb SD card, and Pocket Tunes. I can download mp3s from the web, play ~130 songs from the SD card, or stream shoutcast radio.
It's actually superior to Apple's "groundbreaking concept", because you're not locked into Apple's proprietary iTunes/AAC/DRM/Riaa-loving bullshit.
So, yeah. Looks like Apple's playing catch-up on this one; although I guess if they repeat "WE'RE FIRST@!!!!!!!11!1oneone" enough, everyone will believe it. Just like they did with the ipod.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
So anyone can play their encrypted songs on any device.
Cheers
VikingBrad
The Motorola V3.
Sex on wheels (or at least whatever the same saying is for a phone... Sex off wires!?)
Seriously, the V3 is such a stylee phone (check out that Trek-like etched keypad) - Apple probably wished they'd designed it themselves.
For the phone geeks: Titanium casing; Bluetooth; camera; 262,000 color QVGA (240x320) LCD. Drool!
gadgetophile.com
OK How about this for phone requirements:
1. simple phone interface
2. simple SMS messaging interface
3. Bluetooth
4. Small, preferably flip phone
5. Able to sync all phone data with a PC (SMS messages, phone book, call register)
Those are my phone requirements. Can you find a phone on the market that does those? Simple stuff, but no phone that I am aware of can do them.
I currently have a Motorolla T720. It is a pretty poor phone. For each action I want to perform there seem to be around 2 more button presses than is neccessary. You can sync phone numbers with your PC, but nothing else and the options are pretty crippled. Lastly it is sloooooow.
I could not care less about cameras, Java support (although that is rather cool, I have no need), WAP or $Next_Gen_Feature. Just give me a phone that does a decent job as a phone.
meh
A market of ONE.
----- Question authority, but not ours. Hate the man, but we're not him.
Motorola is a giant company with compartmentalized divisions. I wouldn't be surprised if the cellular division doesn't even know the semiconductor division was involved with the PowerPC processor.
I don't see this as a wannabe Mp3 player. People are willing to pay more than 99c for a 20 second midi clip for their ringtones. I for example paid I think 1.50 for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on my Sidekick. There's a little "catalog" function in the sidekick for buying software (the SSH Client, etc) and ringtones.
Wouldn't it be so much cooler if it instead had an interface to the iTMS? Now it's less expensive, and you get the whole song in 128kbps AAC for your ringtone.
~Lake
I love iTunes... most of the music I listen to are time-shifted recordings of techno broadcasts from the BBC and then of course live and recorded NPR streams. (Plug for iNetStreamArchiver here); why buy and rip CDs when I can just download a set or two a week of the freshest music played by one of the world's great DJs? Sure, there's always room for Pink Floyd and all the rest, but I'm way involved with the streaming component of iTunes. I have 200gb of MP3s sitting on an external drive and only 10gb or so on desktop (and iPod).
:) ), so the phone is in my iSync window; it would be very easy to throw a stereo headset onto a Motorola phone, use the iTunes/iPod interface (although I think Nokia's still got the lock on ease of use even if their hardware is a bit luddite), and carry a day's worth of music around.
For me, a streaming music capacity would be a clutch feature. If I could tune into an internet radio station in the car? Sickness. I woul jock that so hard. We are moving towards wearable computing faster than ever and sure storage is imporant but the computer is the network now, so stream me!
Obviously my wet dream would be an integration of my home machine as a streaming server so I could play all the music I own (or 0wn for that matter) anywhere I can pick up a signal.
If Apple integrates iTunes+iPod in a phone that can access the newer cell phone services, who needs storage beyond a trite few songs? I change the playlist on my iPod quarterly perhaps, if even then. However, I do sync my phone with the address book daily (or as often as women are kind enough to give me their numbers
Behold, the Cidco iPhone... circa 1998 technology... a phone with a web browser and email client included.
Tweet, tweet.
Fergit that! Keynote, bud!
Seriously, if anyone can recommend a really good cell PHONE that would be kinda useful.
Seems noone makes phones anymore, just PDA's with keys too small to use and a crappy phone in it.
How about this for starters
#1 Keys (only 12 please) I can actually dial with.
#2 Talk time ~6 hours becasue some days just never end
#3 Reception all over the city, not just within a mile of downtown.
Oh, and small is not a "feature" it's a defect, see #2.
- Adam L. Beberg - The Cosm Project - http://www.mithral.com/
Try a laptop. Or a tablet pc (if you can find a good one.) If it has bluetooth, tape a bluetooth cell phone to the back. Problem solved.
Not a sentence!
Cell phones already do mp3s, what's new that's new is the iTunes compatibility, which presumably means aac playback is the 'innovation' here.
My new Sony Ericsson K700i has 40mb of available ram (enough for 12 x 3 minute pop songs in marketingspeak), if they were not trying to rip me off for more than the phone cost for a usb-to-dumb-proprietary-connector cable I'd have an equivalent system here.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
At least in the UK, there are already phones out there that can play back audio from a memory card. Over a year ago I saw a collegue uploading MP3 files to a 64MB memory card which he then inserted into his phone, giving him enough music to listen to on his short train journey home. I'm not sure which make of phone it was, though.
The only difference is that this one will allow the playback of Apple's DRMed AAC files.
I think you meant to say the multi-billion dollar cell-phone ring tone market.
I didn't believe it either...
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
I'm not sure what's so great about this. I have a Motorola MPX200 'Smartphone' (my one concession to the world of Windows), with a 256MB SD card stuffed in it. It plays four or five albums of MP3s and battery life is no problem. (Ring tones are .wav files, of up to about 1MB.) OK, I can't plug it into iTunes, but that's really no big deal, is it?
What's more, with a bit of unlocking to run uncertificated apps, I have a decent music player, a good simulator of a TI scientific calc., blah, blah, blah.
It even lets me talk to other people over a digital network: whatever next?
What, still no ogg vorbis support??
I don't think I will be buying one until it has OGG.
Yeah, I had to use google to find the Terminal app in OS X.
Couldn't you just have used the OS X find command? Isn't Google a bit of overkill for this?
SteveM
Apple has actually prototyped two phone systems in the past. One was in conjunction with Seimens and was a dock for the Newton.
The other was called The Paladin
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
My Samsung Uproar (works on sprint) holds 64 megs, and I sync it with iTunes (although mp3 only) via uproar x Uproar specs
UproarX Homepage
Anyway its a great phone and had good battery life. but now i have an ipod. And on windows it uses music match.
Prediction: Apple licenses Motorola technology to produce an iPod mini/cell phone. Jobs has been talking about this kind of convergence for years.
As a current developer of cell phone applications, I would kill for the amount of storage to store 12 songs, and the memory to play them. I think most computer people would be suprised by the hardware restrictions of even current generation cellular phones. I consider myself lucky if the phone I choose to use has more than 64 Kb for each application and > 256Kb of heap memory.
12 songs isn't enough. Someone posted above that 12 songs probably equates to 48mb of available memory in the thing. Thinking of it in that way making it seemingly more liveable.
What else will the phone do? Here's what I'd like to see it do (and it'd guarantee I'd go out and buy it when it came out):
1) a calendar display that syncs with iCal
2) a addressbook that syncs with, yeah, you guessed... the Address Book app
3) a usb port so I can plug it into my laptop and mount it on the desktop and/or use it to dialout to get a tcp/ip stack (this hasn't been working lately on my a620 and sprintpcs)
4) iPhoto integration if the phone has a camera on it
5) headphone jack
6) bluetooth
7) speaker-phone mode
My guess is the second generation version of the device will have the same hard drive in it which the current Mini iPod uses. That is, if they can swing the battery juice to hold enough that the thing is useable for a few days before it'd need a recharge.
http://slashdot.org/~tf23/journal
Hey!
Imagine if we can stream the music from our desktop to the cellphone over a bluetooth connection!!!
Cell Phone + MP3 Player + Wireless Bluethooth headphone!!!
iTunes already can do that over ethernet and wi-fi!!
Go Apple!
This is not exciting because of iTunes integration - I mean, after we have come to love carrying 10,000 songs in our pockets how can we go back to 12?
No, this announcement gets me drooling for the Apple-Motorola collaboration that could bring to market the first ever Apple branded PDA-Phone. It has been said before that Apple has all the pieces it needs for PDA functionality, but WiFi or Bluetooth isn't going to make a personal communicator useful beyond the home, office, or WiFi Main Street USA. No, Apple needs a mobile phone partner to offer wireless Internet access, oh yeah, and to make phone calls on.
The mobile phone industry went a stray with the whole 'camera phone' concept. Perhaps Apple can resurect the flat PDA market and the breath new life into moible phones with this partnership.
I only came here to do two things; kick some ass, and drink some beer...looks like we're almost out of beer.
...this is yet another device that will be outlawed. It could very easily induce a child to commit copyright infringement.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to be part of the package on offer. From the Motorola website:
iTunes(TM) Alliance -- Motorola and Apple announced a strategic alliance to bring the
iTunes(TM) music player to Motorola's next-generation mobile handsets. Music lovers will be
able to transfer favorite songs from the iTunes(TM) jukebox on their Mac or PC, to Motorola's
next-generation 'always with you' mobile handsets, via a USB or Bluetooth connection.
The phone on offer appears to be not so much "iTMS in your pocket" as a decoder for Apple's DRM.
What would be interesting, if the alliance continues, is a phone with a connection to iTMS and a fast download speed, which could hold a limited number of songs, that could then be transferred (probably over USB) to an iPOD.
...although even some cameras that are theoretically "USB2.0", like the Nikon D70, still only transfer at USB1.1 speeds (see the very bottom of the page).
And while USB2.0 is theoretically faster than Firewire, it's well known that it is not faster in sustained transfers - I've got a Maxtor Firewire/USB2.0 external hard drive that bears this out; even the manufacturer quotes a higher speed for the firewire interface. (See here for example stats.)
Posting URLs of vapor Apple products... you'd best believe that's a Paladin.
Sweet merciful crap I am sick and tired of people complaining about Ogg support. Nobody cares! It will not change the world! Quit your incessant whining you freaky person, get out, and find something more worthy of your time! Christ! It's not like there aren't millions of people being slaughtered in Sudan or something. But oh no, some cell phone doesn't support Ogg! Boo hoo it's criminal it's a tragedy why oh why can't they do things the right way woe is me woe is me.
Cuz nobody cares you ijit!
With the friends Ogg has it's going to suffer the same fate as the Amiga, and for similar reasons: their proponents are really irritating.
I mentioned this the other day on the Newton reminiscing thread... the original OS for the iPod was written by a company called Pixo. The OS was used for it's modular nature, but was originally designed to be used as an OS for GSM/CDMA cell phones. If the OS can act as a phone _OR_ as a music player, making it act as a phone _AND_ a music player is the next logical extension. Too bad Pixo is not around anymore.
One more thing... you forgot Pony.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
I favor a new labelling system for cell phones. It would have antenna gain, standby time, and talk time clearly visible on all phone displays, kinda like EPA fuel economy for cars. That way, people would be able to make their selection with more information about how the phone performs. Since cell phones are becoming essential pieces of our infrastructure, it's important that people make decisions that reflect what a cell phone is for: Making and receiving calls. In an emergency, I'd trade my camera, Java games, and web browser for a 5Db gain antenna that can get me a clear call to 911.
I'm in the hole of the broadband donut.
I would really like to see a color screen, iSync compatable, Bluetooth enabled Apple GSM phone. Probably won't happen though. Too damn many players in the phone market and Apple's product would end up being $600-700 before any carrier subsidy - if any. For my $700 I would have a crack at quite a few "smart phones" that are already out.
I'd love to see Apple make a 5x7" LCD tablet with one of the iPod hard drives, USB and Firewire running 10.3 on a low power G4. That is where their R&D should go towards, they already have the greatest handwriting recognition system in the world (Inkwell, from the Newton Rosetta Stone), all they need to do is deploy it!
Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
I will *not* buy it until it plays ogg. And is open source.
Ring tones. If I remember correctly, ring tones are HUGE business. Copyright holders are angry because people turn their songs into crappy versions that can be played on phones as ring tones, and people eat it up immensely. Copyright holders are LESS angry with Apple, which has provided to them an OK way of making money off of something that was costing them money before. Apple wants lightning to strike twice, by co-opting the ring tone market. MP3's mean better quality, integration with iTunes means better interface, ITMS means easy way of getting the product to customers, and a way to pay the copyright holders, and all of this means more people using Apple products, which is costing them largely... nothing. This is an immensely good idea on Apple's part.
Ok, so Apple is teaming up with Motorola, they could possibly make the phone a controller for iTunes, right? If somehow bluetooth was a bit more ranged, or it had WiFi.... This could lead to the "remote control" thing that every critic seems to be complaining the Airport Express lacks.
today is spelling optional day.
Maybe you did not understand from the prior post. OGG will not be supported on the MOTO-UBER phone. Only MP3. OGG, just like BETA, will die a truly brutal death. While OGG may be making some headway in the gaming scene at the moment in titles like UT2003/2004 the MOTOUBERPHONE has no use for this useless garbage. Yes, it can stream HDTV from your Tivo, but no, it cant get more than 8 FPS in your favoriate FPS, er, shooter. If you try to write a OGG player for the UBERPHONE the BIOS will detect this and send a signal to your employers exchange server, which will send a secret message to your inbox which, when opened from home on thunderbird will render your prized OGG collection useless. Yes, completely useless. This nasty worm will infect each and every OGG file with a nasty form of DRM that will eventually encrust your hard disk making the platters unable to spin. Your bonzi butty will be gone, your goatse pr0n will be gone, even your 2gig linspire partition and copy of linux for dummies pdf will be gone.
the encrustation will spread until everything in your posession is "trusted" and "protected" with "digital copyright management". Your girlfriend will get VD and your dog will run away. Your netflix subscription will fuck up and all youw ill ever receive will be ST:Voyager episodes, not including the 7 good ones.
ph33r the DRM encrustation, stay away from 0gg
Why would you need voice signal when you could just use your phone to SSH into your box at home and open a terminal with your local E911 TDD/TTY operator (asuming your modem is still plugged in).
How fast can you thumb type?
Great, now we'll have even more annoying ring tones that will go off in restaurants or cinemas.
It would be great fun to replace someone's ring tone with an mp3 of a voice that says something like "I'm an annoying person!" over and over.
Oh my god, thank you. I'm pretty sure ogg wil not be safe until its version 3, like mp3.
What I want to know is how is this going to work with the upcoming Motorola V3 Razr? The phone is slick with its metal clamshell case, Bluetooth support, camera phone, MP3 ringtones, etc. But from what I've read, the phone only has 5.5 megabytes of storage, and no MMC/SD expansion slot. Will the purchased ringtones stream from iTunes over the mobile phone signal?
http://www.motorola.com/mdirect/hellomoto/exper
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/motorola-v3
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
If you buy an iPod, you sure as hell aren't going to be buying your music from Napster or Wal-Mart.
And I would want to, why? You and your minions of 'free everything' just don't get it (and I'm sure never will). All the music services have to answer to someone. There must be DRM for this online music thing to ever hit the ground running. Apple has found a good balance. I could give a shit about shopping at Napster. Apple's got most of what I want and everything works. No f'in around with songs with different licensing for each one. I've never once been encumbered by an iTunes store song and how I want to use it. I wish you idiots would realize that the reason the iPod and iTMS is so popular is not because it's an evil scheme to steal your children. It's popular because it gives the market what it wants. If you don't want it, then you're not the market. So go away and shop at your Napster and Wal-Mart. I'm sure it's a blast.
That's really interesting, thanks, I would not have guessed...
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
Hey, my 6230 already plays MP3's, 128 MB worth, sweet mother of a phone !!!, get one ! + FM radio + You Name It ! [http://www.nokia.com/phones/6230/]
This comes on the same day Moto announces their new Linux/Java based A780 http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5382692917.html / phone. Motorola also announced today that a deal with Apple will bring an Apple-created version of iTunes software to "all" of Motorola's mass-market phones by mid-2005. How far are we really from having iTunes on our Linux boxen???
Apple has 52% of the hardware market share but have said they don't want to make cheapo players that play a hundred songs. Why leave the door open for the competition to offer a wider range when Apple could nail it shut with cellphones. I for one have no use for a player with 1000 or 3000 songs. I'd be happy with my top 100 songs and it would give me reason to choose a brand of phone supporting Apple.
Now reverse the deal. Perhaps we only heard of one side of the bigger deal. Perhaps Apple will put 3G telephony in all notebooks. Why this is taking so long is a mystery.
It's about market share anyway you can get it while slamming the door on competitor initiative. Just the shear announcement put AAPL up over a buck on the market today. Obviously it's great PR.
CHEERS!
Nah, going with the open source nature it wont be "safe" until 1.0. :)
I believe Apple is looking to the future where handheld devices will fuse into single all-purpose devices. This relationship is probably the first stage in a well thought out roadmap towards a handheld device that, frankly, is the successor to the average personal computer.
That might sound strange to many of you, but it really hit me recently when I received my new Nokia 7610 phone. This phone is tiny, has a big color display, has 8Meg of memory, a removable MMC (memory card) that has 64Meg (like a small hard-drive), bluetooth, Java, megapixel camera, video camera, TCP/IP, etc.. You can get a bluetooth keyboard for the thing - hell if you could connect a monitor to it, it could replace a PC for most tasks - it is more powerful than the average PC 10 years ago. Consider where this is going...
It is innevitable that these small devices WILL become powerful enough to replace PCs. You will pop them out of their charging cradles and bring it around in their native mobile mode, or pop them in to their cradles and sit down to a keyboard, mouse, monitor. The PC will go away when these things have matured a bit more.
The iPod will merge with the phone. The computer will merge with the phone. The personal organizer HAS merged with the phone. The camera HAS merged with the phone. The video-camera is IN-PROCESS of merging with the phone.
Apple has a chance here... I think this relationship shows they are going for it.
The reason that it can be true that 1+1 > 2 is that very peculiar nonzero value of the + operator
Found this with more information and additional discussion about Motorolla and iTunes..
There are several firewire RAIDs available, including one five-drive RAID-5 enclosure that, according to the tests I've seen, can burst more bandwidth than FW400 can provide.
Fortunately, it's a FW800 device. Or it can use SATA, though there's not much of a speed advantage for that over FW800 in this instance. It has USB2, too, but they suggested that you not bother. (The drives it uses internally are regular old ATA133, not SATA.)
Available at fwdepot.com. No, I'm not an employee, just a very happy customer.
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.