More on Apple/Motorola Joint Cell Phone Venture

1+(smarterThanYou) writes "Forbes.com has an article with updates on the previous Slashdot story on the Motorola/Apple iTunes compatible mobile phone. 'Apple Computer and Motorola could soon show us the mobile phone they are developing to play music purchased from Apple's iTunes online music store. 'We've said we have something coming on this in the first half of 2005 and we're definitely on schedule for that. Hopefully you'll be able to see more about it soon,' says Eddy Cue, vice president in charge of applications at Apple.'" Theories about this device showing up at the next MacWorld Expo abound.

Comments

Not to shabby

[Flyinace2000]

Cellular would be the next logical area for apple to explorer. While i think a dedicated Apple Cellular phone would be interesting i don't think it would fly. A joint venture would be a good alternative. Make a slimmed downed ituens for a mobile device. Though i dobt VZW would carry such a cool phone...i mean they finally got bluetooth and look how that mess turned out.

Vice President?

[Anonymous Coward]

If Eddie Cue has pre-empted the suprise and fawning over what could have been a Steve Jobs suprise announcement then Mr. Cue may very well be a Former Vice President by the time MacWorld Expo rolls around.

What brand name?

[dnaboy]

I wonder whether this will be branded as an Apple phone or as a Motorola phone. Seeing as Motorola's marketing gusto seemed to die with the Star-Tac, I'm personally rooting for an Apple phone.

One feature I hope for.

[teamhasnoi]

Is a lockout by Apple that prevents cellular companies from charging every time you want to transfer a tune, photo, or other stuff via Bluetooth.

Every phone that I could use in my area is hobbled by SOB carriers who view BT as headset only, and charge for transfer of photos, ringtones and everything else.

Not that I want the latest MP3 of Poo Doody as my ringtone, or want to take blurry, oversaturated photos with my phone...It's the principle of the thing...

May Apple destroy the phone market as they have beaten the mp3 market.

Re:One feature I hope for.

[THotze]

I think you've got a point here.... you look like you're willing to pay for a nice, well-made phone that's stylish, well-made and has features you want in an easy-to-use manner, like what the Mac is to computers (arguably, but go along with me on this one) or what the iPod is to MP3 players.

Some other people have pointed out that when people have gotten 'cool' phones in the past with popular features - say, bluetooth synchronization with computers - cell networks lock them out.

I think Steve Jobs realizes how much money could be made in a phone that syncs with bluetooth the way its made to be done, as is evidenced by iSync, etc.

And I think that Apple may be the only company in the position to get people to do what cell phone companies can only dream of - PAY for a consumer phone. Even if the phone is $500, there's a chance - a decent one - that Apple, if it is Apple-branded, could make it sell, just the way that Apple sold the original iPods so well, despite their price and that they were Mac-only for so long.

Tim

Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image

[Anonymous Coward]

Through doing BS like this, they are destroying that image that has been so successful.

This may be a whacky idea, but have you considered waiting until you actually see a product before you condemn it?

tip of the iceberg

[Mazzaroth]

I can imagine the features:

• iTunes ringback (what the caller hears is an iTune bought by the callee)
• Distinctive iTune ringtone (I can program the ringtone I hear with an iTune I bought, according to the caller)
• iTunes will not only sync with iPod but also with iPhone
• iPhone to iPhone gifts (I bought an iTune and I give it to you)
• iPhone to iPhone recommendations (I recommend an iTune to you)
• Express your feeling with iTune (when you call her, she hears a music you selected)
• ...

it's just the beginning man! Wait 'till Apple sells movies, documentaries and radio shows...

Re:tip of the iceberg

[RevAaron]

I dont know how this would be possible.Any ringback/call waiting tune is set by the GSM service provider and not by the phone.Technically how can i hear something from the otherside before the otherside picks the call up i.e before i am connected to the otherside ?

What's hard to understand about this? Are you aware that this is already being done? If not, consider yourself informed: ringbacks already exist, though they're not big in the US. If you are aware of this, what gives you the idea that having an iTunes purchased song as your ring back would be any different than any other MIDI, mp3 or sound effect that you'd have as a ringback?

One day, remind me to tell you the story of computers. They transfer data. Sometimes, they just transfer data between the RAM to the CPU over the bus, but now a days, they are often transfering data also between different computers- say a cell provider's servers and a cell phone. A user can buy a song in iTMS-mobile, have the $1 charged to their phone bill, listen to it and go into a little menu where they say "make this my ringback." How it gets to become the ringback could happen in a number of ways. The most likely senario is that the 20 second sound sample- say, the chorus of the song- is accessed by the cell provider's server, no doubt via connecting to some iTMS server. It could grab that 20 seconds of song and set it as the ringback, however those whacky GSM service providers go around doing that.

The user could probably even have a GUI form on the phone that gives them the illusion that they're "recording" the section they want for their ring back, or perhaps just setting the whole thing. But in the end, it just communicates with the cell provider- who already obviously an agreement with Apple/Mot if they're providing this service already- the hash # for the song in question and the markers for where to begin the sample and where to end it. Simple as that.

I'll leave the other very possible- but not too likely- method as an exercise for the reader. A hint: it has again with computers communicating. Uploading, even.

Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image

[CALI-BANG]

i have mod points, i can modded you up but i'll just reply instead.

for now, iPod is doing well; but sooner or later some competitors will catch up.

this things happens in the philippines and i dunno how it affects other parts of the world. 7 years ago, star-tac is the king; it was overrun by nokia when nokia 3210 comes out of the market -- and then stays the lead until now and very very few people are buying motorola phones. 4 years ago, ericsson is not doing well in mobile phone market ... and now after teaming up with sony -- they capture the old market formerly held by nokia.

This joint venture by Apple and Motorola is a win-win for both of them. Design/Interface/Usability teams will add value to a technology competitive products from Motorola -- like what Sony did to Ericsson.

Re:Motorola Apple Relations Improving?

[the pickle]

1) Uh, CodeWarrior was by Metrowerks, and AFAIK, there was never an OS X version. Apple's tools for OS 9 were less than useful in comparison to CodeWarrior, but by all accounts, Xcode is infinitely superior. The fact that it's free is a nice side benefit, but serious developers don't really care that much about what the development environment costs as long as it's a good value.

2) The rug got pulled out from all the other cloners, too, most of whom were doing FAR more business than the Starmax series.

3) The PPC/CHRP/AIM alliance (whatever they're calling it this week) had a lot of problems that may or may not have been Motorola's fault. Until the PPC 970 (G5) and 750fx (G3), IBM wasn't exactly delivering that many CPUs to Apple, which leads into...

The G4 debacle was really the first time Mot had trouble delivering what Apple asked for. After that it was all downhill. Of course, Mot's semiconductor division is a separate company now (Freescale).

Your last point is really your only good one, but I can't say as I disagree with your conclusion. Jobs has been pretty angry with Mot ever since the whole G4 debacle, but the Freescale spin-off might have softened that anger somewhat. I suspect Mot had to do some serious ass-kissing to get this deal to fly.

p

Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image

[JohnsonWax]

for now, iPod is doing well; but sooner or later some competitors will catch up.

Maybe, but this is harder to do than with the phones.

The iPod is so dominant not only because of the iPod but also iTunes and iTMS. Not many companies out there have the talent to pull off hardware/software/service solutions so elegantly. Even MS, who should be able to easily take care of the last two is having trouble - the vast majority of online music sales are AAC, not WMA.

I think that Apple's interest in a phone is not only to deliver some kind of music service, but I'd look for some kind of iChat hooks as well - either simple texting or building to some kind of eventual videophone functionality. Quicktime in the phone is overkill for just music - there are bigger goals here.

Re:dreaming but integration of mini with phone...

[lachlan76]

People drop 'em all the time. My phone (Ericsson T100) can survive just about anything, but I doubt it would go as well if it had a HDD in it.

Re:As two rumors converge

[Jeff DeMaagd]

IIRC, the Apple / Motorola venture to ad iTunes compatibility to cell phones was announced. The flash music-only thing was just a distortion by people that didn't know about the deal when it was made many months ago.

Re:Change your phone Carrier

[revscat]

I simply would not accept that limitation from a carrier. It's an abuse of their service. Do the sensible thing and change you carrier to someone who doesn't cripple your phone and your computing experience.

That's the thing, though. You can't. In America, the providers have banded together on this one and locked-out such functionality. And with a free market fundamentalist for a president, for Americans this is unlikely to change via regulatory pressures from the communications commission.

And the kitchen sink

[alexo]

> So many things are becoming an addition to the mobile phone, and different
> groups teaming up to cover their core areas. Obviously Sony are placed fairly
> well at the moment with their audio, imaging, comms and gaming devices.

Personally, I think that most additions that are bolted on a cell phone result in a substandard product.

Consider a phone + camera combo.

On one hand, I want my phone to be small and light.
On the other hand, I want my digicam to take quality pictures, which requires a decently sized photosites and good optics (with lots of lens elements).

These requirements are at odds with each other.

On the other hand, adding audio functions to a cell phone should be doable without exessively compromising quality.

Is there a reasonably priced cell phone + AM/FM radio + MP3 player combo in existance?

Re:ipod add-on speculation

[Golias]

It's like George Carlin once said:

"If you nail together two things that have never been nailed together before, some schmuck will buy it from you."

Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image

[nordicfrost]

Sony, seem to completely lose it when it comes to cell-phones (in Sony's case, they seem to be partnering with Ericson, so perhaps it's the latter's fault).

Well, Sony had fricking awfully designed mobile phones before they teamed up with Ericsson. Sony Ericsson is a really good example of a product merger gone the right way. Ericsson has all that AND a bag of chips when it comes to telecommunications and mobile phones, but theyr design was outdated since they didn't believe that anyone other than business people wanted to buy mobiles, so they got shafted by Nokias youth-inspired phones. Sony knows how to make something stylish and chuck it full of features. The result is, very cool. A phone that has the most features from Sony and takes a hard beating like a real Ericsson phone.

Apple should have teamed up with Sony Ericsson.