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More on Apple/Motorola Joint Cell Phone Venture

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the gross-conjecture-reigns dept.

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.

23 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Flash-based iPod actually a phone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Could this phone be the rumoured flash-based iPod?

    1. Re:Flash-based iPod actually a phone? by PabloJones · · Score: 5, Informative

      I believe that Steve has specifically said in the past that Apple would not be making a cell phone anytime in the near future.

      But maybe he's had a change of heart. Afterall, if Apple came out with a phone, people would be drooling over it... stylish and easy to use, plus iTunes support. Who knows.

  2. iPhone, uPhone we all phone for iphone... by Wacky_Wookie · · Score: 4, Funny
    I wonder if there will be a U2 Edtion of the phone, all black, and with a #14 Key :)

    I also want a Moof ring tone!

    /end apple fan-boy-rant

  3. Not to shabby by Flyinace2000 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --
    -Will
  4. As two rumors converge by xxblackice · · Score: 5, Interesting

    it seems that this phone + mp3 player might be the convergence of the "flash based" ipod and the apple/motorola venture. Mac heads gotta have their lifeblood flowing...rumors...mmmm

  5. What brand name? by dnaboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  6. Mobile Device Teams by wallitron · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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. Who else will team up to compete?

    Personally, I'd love to see the Nintendo technologies meshed with Apple and Motorola. To me both Apple and Nintendo, lean towards highly usable, simple technology with high build quality.

    Who else is next?

    -----

    Glen Williams

  7. One feature I hope for. by teamhasnoi · · Score: 4, Insightful
    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.

    1. Re:One feature I hope for. by THotze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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

  8. Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?

  9. Interesting. by nativespeaker · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hm...it doesn't look like they'll be able to use the name iPhone...Nuvio's got it locked up:

    http://www.iphone.com/

  10. Re:Macintosh 1 button mouse...now the 1 button pho by goon+america · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bet you'll have to madly spin around a little touch wheel in order to dial it. Like a rotary phone.

  11. Let's see... by the+pickle · · Score: 4, Funny

    1) In Sino-Soviet Korea, a Beowulf cluster of iTunes-enabled fone overlords (who I, for one, welcome) plays Natalie Portman naked and petrified in hot grits to old people in a positive manner.
    2) ???
    3) Profit! Because the iPod has made Apple money hand over fist, so a fone that has the same general function (could this be the flash iPod everyone is talking about?) will likely be a giant seller.

    Problem is that cell fones are typically loss leaders for SOMEBODY, and we all know the iTMS is barely profitable, so I just don't see where the money would be coming from here.

    p

    --
    In Korea, long hair is for old people!
  12. tip of the iceberg by Mazzaroth · · Score: 5, Insightful
    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...
    1. Re:tip of the iceberg by RevAaron · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --

      Working toward a usable PDA environment in the spirit of Newton OS: Dynapad
  13. Lousy timing! by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Who's going to buy an iPod phone when we've all already gone out and bought Ngages?

  14. Re:Apple is killing the iPod Image by CALI-BANG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  15. Will it actually make phone calls? by EvilStein · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please, for the love of god, I just want a phone that will actually make phone calls in my apartment. *whimper*

    I'm not in the boonies. I'm a mere 20 miles East of San Francisco in an area where the median home prices is over $700,000. People have money.

    But I can't make a phone call from my apartment. Verizon comes close, but Cingular, AT&T Wireless, Sprint, Nextel - none of them work.
    My old ass MetroPCS phone is the only phone that I get more than 3 "bars" with. And it doesn't have a camera, either.

    What ever happened to making call quality the #1 priority? I don't want a camera phone! I don't want an mp3 player! I just want to make friggin PHONE CALLS!
    *head as-plodes*

  16. iTunes on phone does not mean iPod-Phone! RTFA by johnpaul191 · · Score: 5, Informative
    the article says the phone is NOT AN IPOD. we knew Apple made a version of Quicktime for cellphones. this makes it sound like the phone will just use Apple software to playback some MP3/AAC songs on your phone. a dozen songs requires very little flash memory. i would guess the phone would be able to play songs bought at iTMS. the fact that the article mentions putting songs on a phone via bluetooth/cable and how that would bypass the carrier, i guess that means we will not see iTMS shopping via cell phone.

    maybe the rumors are way off and this is what the flash iPod is. the Moto V710 phone has a removable memory card you can put MP3 files on and play them as ringtones, or listen to them on the speakerphone. i guess headphones or a carkit would be possible too? who knows. you have to read the article knowing some are quotes from Apple and Moto and some is filler/speculation by Forbes. not to diss them, but it's possible they don't totally know and are off the mark with their speculation.

    and i quote:
    At the event, Jobs took pains to point out that the phone would not compete with Apple's popular iPod music player, but should viewed as an iPod accessory. "Wouldn't it be great if you could take a dozen of your favorite songs with you" on a cell phone, Jobs said at the time.

    The companies said they plan to release a phone that will connect locally to computers unning Microsoft's Windows as well as Apple's Macintosh computers using a cable or a Bluetooth wireless connection.
  17. rob me by ogewo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now the mugger will get a phone with his mp3 player

  18. How About iSync? by DaedalusLogic · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about Apple and Motorola produce a phone that fully synchronizes with iSync for all the productivity items like contacts and calendars? The only folks that make such devices are Nokia and Siemens. I want everything down to the photo on the Address Book entry... plus decent enough e-mail for getting warning messages from the servers.

  19. Re:Macintosh 1 button mouse...now the 1 button pho by Go_Ask_Alex · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nokia beat Apple with a rotary cell phone, it's their Nokia 7280 (http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,62356,00.html).

  20. Well, check this out: by daveschroeder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://treomac.com/v-web/portal/cms/modules.php?na me=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=32

    I can throw a little more gas onto the Apple phone rumors. I was on a train this weekend, watching an episode of the Simpsons on my Treo600. The gentleman sitting across from me asked me how I liked the phone. I told him I loved it and we began a tech conversation. He mentioned that he worked for Motorola. I told him I was a Macintosh consultant, and then he dropped the bomb! "I've got a scoop for you", he teased.

    Apparently some of his associates had been telling him earlier in the week about an Apple branded phone that had been circulating around the office at Motorola. The phone had Motorola components, but most certainly had Apple brandings on it. He said that he did not have a chance to handle the phone, but that his direct supervisor did. The phone was "sleek and sexy" in her words. He mentioned that there was talk amongst the people who had seen it that itunes and iphoto would factor into this device somehow. They also said that the phone had a slot on the top (media slot?) as well as what looked to be a usb 2.0 port on the bottom.

    All very interesting. He gave me his card, so I'll be sure to press him for more details in the coming weeks.

    Stay Tuned!
    _________________
    Tony Ricciardi
    Administrator
    TreoMac.com

    Also, from another source:

    It's basically the successor to the Motorola E398, but with iTunes, and extensive Apple influence and iPod integration. I haven't seen it yet, but my info is direct from Moto top people.

    The current Motorola E398 was a tri-band GSM bar form factor phone, with a large screen, TransFlash slot, Bluetooth, camera, media player, speakerphone, and FM tuner. And since this offering is GSM, and Steve Jobs has twice trotted out Cingular CEO Stephen Carter at Macworld keynotes, and given other carriers' resistance to the idea of iTunes on a phone (for reasons of either not wanting to provide bandwidth for such a service at a reasonable cost, OR being opposed to having full computer/device connectivity via Bluetooth bypassing their networks), it would appear that Cingular/AT&T might be a good candidate to carry such a device.

    And for all those who think that Motorola phones suck OR are only basing your opinion on NEXTEL phones, trust me: they've gotten a LOT better, and actually have some excellent offerings (e.g., RAZR V3 and v710, Verizon crippling aside).