More on the iTunes Cell Phone

andyring writes "According to PC Magazine, a Motorola exec demoed the rumored iTunes cell phone. According to the article, the phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does, and incorporates the iPod interface for navigating and playing digital music." We've mentioned this before.

Comments

That's amazing!

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple licensed FairPlay?

Worst of both worlds

[DrKyle]

Take a cellphone I have to charge every day and add an mp3 player that gets charged every day and I'm willing to be that doesn't make 2 days worth of charge. When will convergence end and manufacturers just give me one thing that works well for a long time? Next they'll add video playback that will kill the battery in less time than to watch a movie.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[computerme]

well if you have any ideas of how to break the laws of battery physics and do so in a cost effective manner then go right ahead and send them you plans...

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

yes but think of all the ring tones!!

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

When will people stop posting this same thing on every single thread about cell phones? You just want a simple phone that does one thing well and has good battery life--WE GET IT. If there are enough like-minded people then perhaps a product like you want will be developed. If not, it won't. You are obviously not part of the target market for this phone.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[SoCalChris]

Not to mention that I generally regard cell phones as being disposable, but keep something like an ipod for several years.

Two years from now, I'm not going to want to have to get rid of my ipod so that that I can get the newest model phone.

Personally, I would preffer that device makers stick to making one thing work well instead of converging several items into one bulky and mediocre performing item.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[PornMaster]

Well, if you save space by removing duplicated components, don't you have more room for additional battery, even if it's external to the unit?

Re:Worst of both worlds

[soft_guy]

Yes, it is too bad for you that it is now impossible to buy a cell phone that isn't also an iPod.

Obviously if you prefer to have separate devices, you can purchase separate devices all you want. Right now, the market will decide whether separate devices or integrated ones (or both) will be made. So, your choices count!

Re:Worst of both worlds

[wankledot]

Good thing you don't have to buy one!

Seriously, if you are tired of new features taking up battery life, then don't use the feature or buy a phone with it.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[jschottm]

if you are tired of new features taking up battery life, then don't use the feature or buy a phone with[out] it.

I would have been happy to keep using my StarTac indefinitely except for the fact I couldn't get parts for it when they started wearing out. There wasn't anything like it on the market when I got a replacement. The LG I ended up with is slower, has taken wear and tear far worse, and doesn't offer any real improvements. The damn thing doesn't even have a ringer that sounds anything like a phone.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Jeff DeMaagd]

My phone lasts about a week with normal use. It doesn't have camera functions but it does have a color screen. I don't recharge my iPod every day, but then, I don't use it for twelve hours a day, more like a couple.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[wankledot]

The damn thing doesn't even have a ringer that sounds anything like a phone.

Yes, but it plays Britney Spears songs!

Ringtones are a multi-billion dollar a year industry, which makes me incredibly sad.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Libor Vanek]

Aren't you by any chance working in Microsoft marketing dept? .-)

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

I slip my cell phone into its charging cradle every night, and I charge my iPod constantly. So now I have a cell phone that plays mp3s, this isn't any worse for me.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Lindsay Lohan]

I'm willing to be that doesn't make 2 days worth of charge

I have a T-Mobile iPAQ with PocketPC Phone Edition. I listen to music, podcasts, and surf the net every day for many hours. I'm amazed how long the battery lasts--usually 4 days.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[IO ERROR]

When will convergence end and manufacturers just give me one thing that works well for a long time?

Convergence will end when you have your Microsoft Windows phone/PC/media player 2050 with Windows Media Player 37 and full DRM installed directly into your brain.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[accelleron]

http://www.dreamingpoint.com/projects/cellphone/fi naldisplay.jpg

if it ain't broke...

Re:Worst of both worlds

[gl4ss]

just go and buy a phone without the features you actively don't want.

maybe you actively seek for a laptop that can't play videos too...

Re:Worst of both worlds

[iamacat]

If you think about it, the only satisfactor solution are custom made devices. People who don't spend much time at home really need a phone with a camera, HD mp3 player, big color screen, keyboard and WiFi. Beats having to go home to e-mail a picture you just took, spilling devices out of full pockets or always carrying a backpack.

On the other hand, if you only want the phone, you would rather have a little thing that fits on top of one ear when in use. And if you only want some of the function, you expect your phone to be proportionally smaller and cheaper.

They should make a modular device with a main board that supports, say 4 plugins such as a hard drive, an 802.11 radio or a keyboard. But instead of attachable dongles that fall off and break, you can just get a smaller case that excludes the sides you don't use.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

Small-container fusion (or fission) receptacles. But Uncle Sam won't let me design the fucking thing.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[godmstr]

With technology increasing and all the millions of dollars we spend on things you would think someone would invent a new type of batter that doesnt drain so quickly

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Fallen_Knight]

sadly no one makes good DURABLE consumer cell phones any more that are just phones with no useless features, oh and it has to have GOOD reception.

Alls i want is a phone that is JUST a phone, long battery life, and won't break or fail at the drop of a hat like the newer ones.

If you know of one please point me at it. i'm sick of these new camera phones with color screens that dont' work anywhere nearly as good as cell phones used it.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[wankledot]

I haven't noticed a change in the quality of the phones in the last 5-7 years, at least in my experience. I've had a couple nokias that I have beat the living crap out of, and never had one fail on me. The basic nokias seem to hold up great.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[klang]

it's actually pretty dificult to find a mobile phone that doesn't have a camera..

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

Nuke batteries...verry safe and nothing more dangerious than alkaline. Problem is battery companies would lose allot of revenue and the stigma to anything begining with Nu and ending with ke.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

Nuke batteries damnin...nuke batteries...

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Arclight17]

If you don't like nokia, try motorola...
Theirs are hardy stock as well. ---- Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic

Re:Worst of both worlds

[gl4ss]

it actually isn't.
seriously.

it might be difficult to find adverts for them, because they're not sexy to advert.

here's one , and here's another.

or n-gage qd if you fancy symbian, or nokia 1100 if you want just very very barebones.

Re:Worst of both worlds

[Anonymous Coward]

Why don't you think the device maker can make this multi-capability device work well and perform above mediocre? If anyone can do it, Apple can.

Salling Clicker

[Raynach]

There's a nifty little utility called the Salling Clicker that lets you take control of your Bluetooth-enabled Mac with any Bluetooth enabled cell phone. Not exactly like playing music from your cell phone, but navigating your Apple with your cell phone, including iTunes.

I used it just recently with the car stereo I installed. ;)

Re:Salling Clicker

[Anonymous Coward]

Something similar exists for the PC, called PuppetMaster.

Re:Salling Clicker

[Karma Sucks]

Your car hack is one of the most atrocious things I've ever seen. No offense.

Re:Salling Clicker

[jomas1]

Salling Clicker is cool but Romeo is almost as good and is free (OS X only) http://www.irowan.com/romeo/

Re:Salling Clicker

[cortez]

Here's a tip to help your car's alternator die less:

Don't go from DC to AC back to DC!! Get a Kensington Car/Air adapter for your powerbook. As far as the speakers go, i might suggest a DC speaker system, maybe one that doesnt have a subwoofer...

Re:Salling Clicker

[sadida_333]

Totally offtopic. The screenshots of this software show the old, fantastic, track Voodoo People by The Prodigy. I just so happen to be toying with a mash-up betwen Voodoo People and my new, favorite, Prodigy track, Hot Ride at this very moment. Small world.

Re:Salling Clicker

[Anonymous Coward]

Gotta admit, I was thinking the exact same thing. Damn that was nasty.

Re:Salling Clicker

[Anonymous Coward]

The only reasons to get an iPhone (or whatever we end up getting from Moto/Apple) would be to get what I consider a great GSM world phone (Moto GSM world phones have best RF in my experiance) with Salling Clicker ability, and *full* iSync compat.. not just iTunes BS (yes I use iTunes and an iPod, but see no use for it in my F$c^ing phone!)

(not holding my breath, lol)

Re:Salling Clicker

[xjerky]

Don't hold your breath. As of yet Sailing Clicker does not work with Motorola phones.

Will it sell well?

[anime_nerd]

I think that people who already shelled out cash for an I-pod aren't going to rush out and buy this now. It's going to be a toy for the rich. Plus, quite frankly, most people want to be able to download free music to their MP3 player, and this sounds like it can only use I-Tunes store. I doubt that it will be popular.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Bricklets]

I think that people who already shelled out cash for an I-pod aren't going to rush out and buy this now. It's going to be a toy for the rich. Plus, quite frankly, most people want to be able to download free music to their MP3 player, and this sounds like it can only use I-Tunes store. I doubt that it will be popular.

I-Don't know about that.

Re:Will it sell well?

[savagedome]

I think that people who already shelled out cash for an I-pod aren't going to rush out and buy this now

Cell phone is even more a 'style' thing for people than an mp3 player. Take a look at how many accessories are available for a cell phone that you and I and most of /.ers would think as asinine. The colorful antenna where the phone antenna goes bling bling when a call is received or even face plates for your phone. People love to decorate the cell phone so that they can whip it out and use it in public to be a little more flashy.

I am convinced that Apple is going to design one heck of a cell phone as far as style is considered.

And one more thing. Ringtones is already a multi-billion dollar industry. Now imagine iTunes providing tunes for ringtones. Yeah.

Buy AAPL. There is more juice left in that stock.

Re:Will it sell well?

[2nd Post!]

I think it will.

If IBM, Alpine, and Pioneer think there is a market for car adapters for the iPod (to transform your car into an iPod sound system) why wouldn't the same market want a phone that can play all their AACs and MP3s after synching with iTunes?

It's not like the phone market is stagnant! People get new phones every few years, some of them at least.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where did the error come from about only being able to d/l ITMS content to an iPod?!?!?

Re:Will it sell well?

[RevDobbs]

Dammit, where's my "-1, Strained Pun" mod?

Re:Will it sell well?

[Agent000]

If you can load MP3 and AAC and any music you have onto an iPod, why wouldn't they do the same for this?

Re:Will it sell well?

[jschottm]

If they did it right (including playing mp3s as well as Apple store stuff), there might be a market in people like me who commute via short (~20 minute) walks or bus trips. I wouldn't mind having some music to listen to on said journeys but haven't bothered to get _yet_another_gadget_ to do so. If I could have a craddle at home and at work that would charge the battery and swap songs, I might pay a little extra for a phone that would do so.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Hungry Student]

I don't really care if it plays music or not, my current mobile plays music, I just use my iPod as well. What i'm looking forward to is a mobile designed by Apple (fingers crossed) in a powered-by-Motorola way. Much as I love my long line of Nokias, a mobile from Apple would make me sit up and take notice.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

IBM?

Re:Will it sell well?

[commodoresloat]

It's going to be a toy for the rich.

So? The rich need toys too you know!!!

Re:Will it sell well?

[anime_nerd]

No offense to the guy who wrote this "I-Don't know about that," it's kind of funny, but how is that a 3 and my post got modded down to a 1 because someone thought it was overrated? Cut me some slack, secret meta-moderator, I'm new, thanks for changing me back to netural karma.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

... People love to decorate the cell phone so that they can whip it out and use it in public to be a little more flashy.

I am convinced that Apple is going to design one heck of a cell phone as far as style is considered.

Say what you will about Apple design, but one thing that always comes to mind is simplicity or minimalist (well, after Jobs's return, anyway). From original iMac to Luxo Jr. iMac to iMac G5 to Xserve. From iPod to iPod mini. That jibes well with Steve's taste in Zen-like design. Now, it may be a popular phone if Apple indeed plans to release one, but that will be because the taste of the consumers changes or at least is influenced by the iPod design. I am willing to bet it is not because it's flashy. That is why it's a bit of a risk for Apple since the cell phone market is precisely of that flashy kind.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

ringtons is a multi-billion dollar industry? are you shitting me? who makes shit like this up?

multi-billion dollar industry...

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post was overrated because your rant was based on an incorrect premise. iPods can play music from other sources, so it's fairly safe to assume that this device will, too.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Golias]

The only people who think phones are a "style" thing are people who don't own them and resent the hell out of "those rich yuppie bastards parading around with their stylish, tiny phones with silly ring-tones, rubbing their wealth in our noses."

The reason why small phones are "in style" is because carrying a big f-ing ear taco is a big hassle. A tiny phone which does the job is worth paying a lot more money. It's about function, not style.

The reason colors and accesories are popular is the same reason why some people have colorful key chains, to make their property easier to spot. This way, for example, you don't run out the door with your roommate's phone by mistake.

The reason why "fancy" ring tones are popular is obvious to anybody who's ever been on a job site as part of an army of consultants. If everybody's ring tone is the same, you can never tell who's phone is ringing. If yours is the only one which plays "Pennsylvania 6-5000" when a call is coming in, you don't need to look around the room like an idiot every time somebody calls you, wondering which phone is ringing.

And one more thing. Ringtones is already a multi-billion dollar industry.

I call Bullshit. Between Europe, Asia, and the US combined, I seriously doubt that there are more than a billion cell phone users, and of those, probably only a tiny portion of them, let's be genererous and say 5%, spend money on fancy ring-tones. That means each one of those people needs to spend about $40 on ringtones for it to even be a two-billion dollar industry. Somehow I doubt that this is the case.

Re:Will it sell well?

[anime_nerd]

Even though it can, my post still has some meaning because I made the point that the ideaa is frivolous and I wondered if there was really a market for it. I admit that we don't know enough about this new phone to make any assumptions, but I was just trying to make a main point, that I thought that it might not sell.

Re:Will it sell well?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is also overrated. Every time a story breaks about an upcoming Apple product, brilliant minds rush to slashdot to tell us all why it won't sell.

Then it sells, and everybody acts like it was obvious that it would. Before iPods, it was the CRT eMac. Before the eMac is was the iMac.

The only time I heard the slashdot crowd really get behind something was when the early press for the Cube came out. Everybody seemed positive that this would be the system which finally made Apple matter, and dozens of PC owners proclaimed that this new Cube was the first Mac that they would "actually consider buying."

We all know how that turned out.

In fact, the fact that people like you are bashing it on /. and saying it might not sell is probably a sign that it will be a massive hit with consumers.

Re:Will it sell well?

[anime_nerd]

I didn't even know that people here always based Apple stuff. I'm new. In fact, I'm usually partial to Apple products. I use Apple computers all the time, mostly for video editing, and they have way less problems then PCs. I just sincerely thought that this whole topic and the idea of a musical cell phone was overrated. I didn't mean to make a big deal about my comment, just that I thought there was more substance in a well-thought out argument than in a one liner pun, OK?

Re:Will it sell well?

[Bricklets]

I can think of three reasons right off the bat.

1) Right now it costs cell phone users, what, $2-$5 dollars to download a midi ring tones for their phone. And LOTS of people are buying them at these absurd prices. Apple will sell users of this cell phone the entire song for $0.99.

2) There are a whole lot more cell phone users than there are iPod users. A LOT more.

3) People do not want their pockets to be overloaded with stuff. You have your keys, wallet, cell phone, pda, mp3 player, whatever all fighting for the same space. So instead of bringing your iPod and cellphone, just bring the 2 in 1 and you're set. This is one huge reason why Treos and Blackberrys (blackberries?) are so popular.

Just wait till Eminem is my ringtone...

[Anonymous Coward]

No need to ever answer again. But keep calling, please.

This is not the final form factor

[computerme]

According to appleinsider sources, the form factor of the phone you may have seen in images is only a test mule based on a diff moto phone.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=816

snip:
Update: According to sources, the phone shown above and elsewhere on the internet is not the rumored Apple-Motorola cell phone, but rather a development phone used for demonstrating the embedded version of iTunes that will be included with the Apple-Moto phon

Re:This is not the final form factor

[rjstanford]

According to appleinsider sources, the form factor of the phone you may have seen in images is only a test mule based on a diff moto phone.

That's funny. I mean, its true and all, but its not exactly news considering that the FA points this out in the fourth sentence:

But a Motorola representative clarified on Friday that the phone shown during the keynote was not the actual iTunes phone that is slated for release this year. Instead, it was a Motorola E398 equipped with the iTunes functionality for the demonstration.

Then again, its not like its stuff that matters either, so no biggie.

Back to "dialing" the phone?

[PornMaster]

I can't help but to think that the idea of using a clickwheel to "dial" the phone like in the days before many Slashdotters were born is kind of funny. Even if it's not the preferred dialing method, someone's gotta do a dialing hack for it. :)

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

It was not that long ago. I had a phone like that untill about 8 years ago.

# joke
But after reading a lot of posts on here I would have to agree that many people here were not born before that.
# end of joke

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[ogewo]

Touch rotary dialing, apple will dominate the phone market!

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[zonker]

ma apple? ma fruit? hmm... needs work.

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[Anonymous Coward]

In fact, Nokia was toying around with that idea (obviously inspired by the iPod), witness the now-cancelled Nokia Neo. Rotary dialing works, and obviously such an input method is also valid for a portable music player, but anything more than that (like writing a text message) is pure torture. Thank god Nokia still has some business sense.

Myself, I'll just continue using my Nokia 6630, which has MP3, AAC and OGG (with a plugin) playback at full 44.1 kHz 16 bit stereo goodness. Transferring music to the phone is easy with Bluetooth, or I could just download music from the Internet with GPRS/EDGE/UMTS (3G) if it didn't cost so much. Anyway, I have no use for an "iTunes" phone, Nokia already has something much better than that.

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I still keep a dial phone around, even if only to check for a dial tone to test the land lines. It might have been nearly two decades since I've used it as a main phone though.

It might be a nifty improvement, most cell phone buttons that I've are really stiff, I don't know if it is some sort of weatherproofing or not.

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[NanoGator]

"Touch rotary dialing, apple will dominate the phone market!"

I'm so pissed I can't buy a phone these days that does rotary dialing.

Actually I'm not0 I'm just short of karma and I figure that if I bitch about something lost due to evolution of technology, I'll get modded up.

Re:Back to "dialing" the phone?

[nightgeometry]

I actually have one, an old bakelite one too.

it is a fucking pain to dial out on. But it is a cool as fuck thing to have.

Oh yeah?

[sploo22]

Well, it may be wireless, but I bet it still has less space than a Nomad!

Re:Oh yeah?

[commodoresloat]

And only one mouse button!!

Re:Oh yeah?

[Anonymous Coward]

And of course, doesn't support Org Vorbis. Lame.

Re:Oh yeah?

[plj]

Actually, when CmdrTaco originally made his statement, he probably meant WiFi. So it is probably still not wireless in a sense that you could actually sync your music wirelessly (bluetooth is way too slow for that purpose).

haha, no iPhone

[adpowers]

The rumor sites were filled with speculation of an iPhone. I don't see where it all came from, since the announcement from Moto and Apple only said that they were developing iTunes for phones. I think a lot of people used this Forbes story as their source and went rampant with speculation.

demoed?

[Anonymous Coward]

eh...what?

Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[Jailbrekr]

Why spend upwards of 2 bucks for a crap ringtone when we could (assuming it supports this feature) use actual song snippets

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[t_allardyce]

No, they will still be asstastic, free but asstastic. Ring tones are soo last century, hell they were last century last century.

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[Anonymous Coward]

yeah, I can't wait to have My Seven Bizzos as my ringtone.

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[YrWrstNtmr]

Right. And when you're listening to music on your iPhone, and it rings...will you be able to tell if its just another song, or an incoming call?

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[aardwolf204]

Dude1: Check out this new ring tone I gots
Dude2: Sounds familiar, who is that?
Dude1: Thats 50 cent y0?!
Dude2: Right on. Where'd you get it?
Dude1: Verizon's dank ring tone store online
Dude2: Really, how much?
Dude1: Less than a buck. 99 cents.
Dude2: Hold up, you mean to tell me you paid 99 cents for a 50 cent ring tone
Dude1: Yeah, whats up?
Dude2: You paid 99 cents for... ahh fuck it, nevermind...

True story

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[NanoGator]

"Why spend upwards of 2 bucks for a crap ringtone when we could (assuming it supports this feature) use actual song snippets"

Heh. I have a cheapy Motorola phone. (I want to say V-100 but I honestly don't remember for sure.) It plays back .MP3 files, but they insist that I should go download and pay for ring tones. I found a way around that by uploading an MP3 file to my webserver and downloaded it from my internet feature on my phone. Pain in the butt, but I saved $2, and now my phone sounds like Ziggy from Quantum Leap!

Boy that gives me an idea of a prank I could play on my boss next time he leaves his phone laying around...

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[self assembled struc]

even better.

paying 2.99 for a "real music" ringtone (ie: actual audio, not midi) which is about 14-40 seconds worth of music.

when you can just buy the song off iTunes in FULL and better quality for $.99

and yes, i work for a ringtone company.

Re:Woohoo! No more asstastic ringtones!

[capmilk]

Hmm, I use a song snippet on my P800: "Music is Math" by "Boards of Canada". Since the P800 can only play WAV-Files it's a pretty inconvinient ring tone - but even those 2 MB were bluetoothed eventually. :)

How long will it take....

[overbyj]

before this item gets added to that crazy iPod/iTMS lawsuit?

Plaintiff: But your honor, Apple is now in collusion with Motorola to extend their monopoly. Not only am I forced to buy an iPod to use iTMS, but now....I have to buy a phone too! Will the insanity never end?

Re:How long will it take....

[michaeldot]

Conspiracy theory #640: Microsoft had some money left over from funding SCO to pay for a legal action against iTunes.

Ironic comment #65536: A convicted monopoly accuses another company of being a monopoly for not signing up to its Plays For Sure(TM) program.

User Interface?

[grahamsz]

It sounds like the ipod UI will be used for playing music, but does that mean a different UI will be used for placing phonecalls.

I'd say that was very-motorola to have an inconsistent user interface... tho to be fair i haven't used one of their phones since the early 90s.

Re:What the shit is an I-pod?

[Anonymous Coward]

I-pod-therefore-I-am.

I-Tunes-therefore-I-pod.

Ummm..

[TheKidWho]

Less space then an iPod. Lame.

Re:Ummm..

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on mods! Funny parody of CmdrTaco's comments on the original iPod; if I had points you'd get 'one...

Re:Ummm..

[damiam]

But at least it has wireless.

Re:Ummm..

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah I agree, it is funny how apple is so behind the curve.

Mp3 players, flash based mp3 players, mp3 players that display pictures, low priced computers, etc, the list keeps going on.

Sorry - I have to reply to his sig...

[soft_guy]

I think "Web TV for Dummies" is actually the slogan for the product, not the name of a book.

I don't get it.

[ptomblin]

Is this a phone that you can use ITMS to buy ring tones, or is this an iPod that has phone capability as well? I guess it's going to depend how much storage it's got.

My current phone has more storage than my first three or four or five computers put together, but that isn't enough to want to use it as my music player.

Motorola code quality - poor, very poor.

[zerofoo]

Uggh, I can't take any more featureitis from Motorola. My last two motorola phones had all kinds of software problems:

T720 Phones that would ring and hang when you answer them.

(T720) Black-screen hang during charging that requires a reboot.

V710 phones that would crash during MP3 playback and require pulling the battery off of the phone to stop playback.

Hey motorola, how about STABLE phones first - then gee whiz features?

-ted

Re:Motorola code quality - poor, very poor.

[lateralus_1024]

Amen...i'd like to see Motorola make some responsive/stable CDMA phones. I have the T720(verizon) and this thing is a monumental pile of dung. Talk about the slowest button response ever...even after 3 firware updates. And everytime i went to the Verizon store, the Customer Support Specialist kid behind the counter would say the same thing: "Motorola just sent us a new firmware update, your phone is gonna rock now, the one we gave you last time was just a Beta".

Re:Motorola code quality - poor, very poor.

[myov]

My motorola phone (one of the iDen two-ways with absolutely no advanced features) actually came back from service in worse condition then when I sent it in!

They never did fix the problem, but reduced it to being manageable.

-1 Flamebait

[fo0bar]

What an idea! You know, I bet this would work for other devices as well. I could probably take a GBA and put a cellphone on it.

Excuse me while I bouce this off Nokia's marketing department. BRB.

pockettunes

[r_picmip 5]

Pockettunes with the iTunes skin is about the same thing :D

When will we see the Apple logo on a phone?

[Dr. Spork]

The cell phone market is very sensitive to "cool" - Nokia really rode that wave for a while and it took them far.

The tech company most assossiated with style and hipness is Apple. If they made an iPod mini with a number pad, speaker and mic, which can be used to purchase whatever song you feel like hearing on your car trip or subway ride, there would be long lines of buyers - and a lot of spontaneous/impulse song purchases from iTunes (if the price was reasonable). There are lots of people with disposable income for whom this sort of instant gratification would quickly become irresistable.

Now sure, they could contract Motorolla to make a phone with similar specs, but the Apple logo itself would sell lots of units. Could this be their devious plan? Should it be?

Don't you remember that saying....

[Anonymous Coward]

That applies to Apple's targeted demographic?

"A fool and his/her money are soon parted."

In praise of Salling Clicker

[XavierItzmann]

Salling Clicker is rock solid. And it is not a gizmo: it is something thousands of people use daily. It truly is phone/iTunes integration.

I use it daily with my Sony Ericsson T68i and/or Palm Tungsten T3 to control iTunes without line of sight from anywhere in my (admittedly small) apartment. Integration, stability, user interface are all golden.

S Clicker makes a "device" out of this functionality, not a flashy demo app.

iHome photos?

[AIX-Hood]

Speaking of what's rumored to be shown at the upcoming Macworld, these pictures of a possible new iHome seem to be circulating the net: http://www.aixgaming.com/gallery/ihome_pics

Re:iHome photos?

[Anonymous Coward]

no, they aren't

Re:iHome photos?

[tsch]

I doubt this is real mostly because I don't think Jobs would want them to use the fancy "-re" spelling of Center.

Re:iHome photos?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's an analysis of the photos here. The pics look legit, but the box - who knows?

smart friends

[Doc Ruby]

The phone is an iPod, but doesn't have a wireless network (eg. 3G)? Apparently Jobs hasn't noticed that the smartphone is the first truly personal computer. Guess we'll have to wait another year or so for Apple to make them as friendly as they are smart.

Or you can use Bemused

[Catullus]

which is free software (and coincidentally written by me ;)

Get it here.

Someone's ported it to Linux too.

Here's the hotlink

[AIX-Hood]

The link: http://www.aixgaming.com/gallery/ihome_pics

Re:Here's the hotlink

[Anonymous Coward]

not very apple? more like commodore 64, especially with that coloured stripe and grey band.

iPod + cellphone = rotary dial phone!

[danimrich]

The return of the rotary dial ;-)

As far as I know, Apple has updated the iTunes software a couple of times since its first release.
Will cellphone producers realize at some point that, if they choose the "featuritis" path, it would be better to allow the consumer to perform a software update himself instead of having him mail the phone halfway across the country?

Re:iPod + cellphone = rotary dial phone!

[generic-man]

The Nokia 7280 already has a rotary dial in place of a number keypad.

Apparently phones are going retro for some strange reason. :)

Re:iPod + cellphone = rotary dial phone!

[danimrich]

Nice design, but I wonder whether the rotary dial is a nuisance. After all, the phone needs to take more user input than the ipod.
Kudos to Nokia for exploring design alternatives. If I can afford it, I might give it a try.

Re:iPod + cellphone = rotary dial phone!

[Amorya]

I'm with you on that one. Although Nokia dealers can do it while you wait, which is better than sending it off.

Apparently it's to stop users easily getting round the blocking of phones from rival networks. Doesn't work 'cos there's plenty of back-alley phone dealers who'll do the unblocking for a small fee :)

Yup.

[Anonymous Coward]

And they have for a whie. Audible.com has been using it for a while, if I recall.

TFA is wrong

[pauljlucas]

The phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does ...

An iPod does not sync with the iTunes Music Store. It syncs with the iTunes music player. The significance is that the iPod (and presumeably the new phone) can play any MP3 file regardless of how you obtained it and not just music purchased from the iTunes Music Store.

Re:TFA is wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh, I wouldn't mind if iPod syncs with iTunes Music Store as long as I can choose which songs it copies and without charge. Imagine that, {1000, 4000, 10000} songs for free.

not iTMS only.... it syncs with itunes application

[johnpaul191]

my brother has the Moto V710 and that phone allows the use of MP3 files as ringtones, but he has to load them on a tiny memory card and keep the card in the phone. this sounds like a realtively minor hop from that.

the available info says it syncs with your comnputer (cable or bluetooth). it mentions using a special cell phone playlist on your iTunes app to pick the songs to transfer over. in that case it sounds like MP3 or AAC, and i am guessing it will somehow allow the DRM'd iTMS songs you may have purchased.

being a Moto phone, i think it's safe to assume it will support iSync to keep your Address Book and iCal updated every time you connect to your computer. in one of the Steve Jobs quotes from a few weeks ago he mentioned being able to connect your phone to your computer and take your favorite dozen songs or so with you. they say paying for rintones is a multimillion dollar industry in the USA alone already. i don't know about others, but Verizon customers pay 99 now for a midi ringtone. if people will pay 99 for a midi ringtone, they will probably pay 99 to buy the AAC song from the iTMS. granted most people buy midi because they don't know how to make their own or how to get them on their phone... which makes you wonder if Verizon and others would allow this loss of revenue. granted Verizon themselves does not sell the tones, but they offer it through their "get it now" service that they make something from.

i never understood if this is supposed to just be for ringtones or do you plug in headphones to the phone and rock out? i know phone/mp3 player devices exist... even in the US

Great, but what about the other stuff?

[seanbry]

All this iTunes support, yet still not Moto Bluetooth Support. Nice going Apple and friends -_-

Dupe!

[jskiff]

Dupe

Wait, what??? Oh...

We've mentioned this before

there goes the itunes/ipod lawsuit!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well it doesn't look like you are locked into an ipod as according to the lawsuit posted about yesterday... AAC for another brand... Hmm doesn't motorolla make apple's processors something fishy is going on here ;)

If we're going to guess...

[ewanrg]

Why not at least look at what we think would make sense? Ok, it's probably not going to have a roll-up screen and a beanie-cap neural interface, but there are some reasonable things we could hope for.

First, I hope this thing is wrong about needing to connect to a computer to "do it's business". There should be a way to support impulse buying - preferably tied into some kind of recognition feature where you could hear something playing on the radio, sample it through the phone, and get a suggestion (or two due to sampling) and then make the purchase.

Next, why not hope for at least a mid-end built-in camera to support the ol' "take a picture of a UPC code on a CD, and offer the music to you for sale" trick that you can somewhat get from Amazon now?

Finally, how about some limited sharing capabilities? If the Tivo "TivoToGo" can let you share with up to 10 friends, why not make it easy to send the song along to your other phone buddies? If the money isn't there for complete sharing, how about for X number of plays and then a link to pay or delete?

Oh, and I "hope" it occurred to these folks to have the billing for the tunes integrated with the service so that folks don't have multiple bills every month. Yuck...

---

Would you believe I've been told I write too much? ;-)

the phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Mu

[slapout]

the phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store

If it's playing back music then shouldn't it be called the iPod Phone instead of the iTunes phone?

And do you know why?

[AkaXakA]

Hehe.

And why? Cos' the ringtone market has BY FAR larger
profit margins than the mobile handset industry itself.

Oh, and I told you so!

Centre - Center

[WookieinHeat]

Centre is the Canadian way of spelling it.

Ear pieces for phones

[lux55]

Don't lots of people already use ear pieces for talking on their cell phones? This actually seems like quite a natural progression.

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Kirby-meister]

You're listening to music, you have an incoming call... and then what? You can't talk to somebody and listen to music at the same time.

...Maybe...you could "pause" the music?

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Quattro Vezina]

and they had this refrigerator WITH A TV EMBEDDED IN THE DOOR. Who buys this shit?

If you think that's asinine, you must have missed the model that comes with a built-in computer and web browser. Who in the blue hell wants to surf the web on their fridge?

cool, but

[Cow007]

Where are the pics?

Info on the demoed phone

[Lepton68]

A full review of the phone used in the demo is at http://www.mobileburn.com/review.jsp?Id=903. Stereo and much other good stuff. Imagine it white instead of black, and major Apple help with the UI, and you might have something very, very nice.

This was NOT the iTunes/iPod phone!!!

[psyconaut]

This is a phone that demonstrated Motorola's iTunes codebase. This codebase will be available on many Moto phones including some current hardware designs.

The phone they *specifically* worked with Apple on will be shown by Apple. You really think Apple would be happy with Motorola showing it first? That's most definitely *not* the Apple way.

-psy

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Anonymous Coward]

me

I've heard...

[Performaman]

From someone with a relaative who is working with Apple (and I'm not kidding) that there will be some kind of bluetooth watch to interface with the new iPod, as well as BT headphones.

Here's what I see:

[Anonymous Coward]

I figure you to be fat and sweaty with thick rimmed glasses and a horizontally striped shirt that's way too tight for your bulging gut. I also speculate that you masturbate furiously every time you post under this pseudonym, muttering "I'm Lindsay Lohan, I'm Lindsay Lohan" until your manseed spills over your hairy white knuckles.

Am I wrong?

Re:Here's what I see:

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I wrong?

Yes, you are. I'm not wearing a horizontally striped shirt.

Re:Absolutely lammeee...

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

The last thing I want is a cell phone that uses the iPod wheel thingy. Feel is important for a phone. That way I don't have to go fumbling around to dial a number.

I don't think anyone is suggesting a cellphone without a keypad, although you never know. I'd actually be quite happy to have a wheel for my phone. 90% of my calls are people whose numbers are stored in my phone. Push a button, quickly scroll through a list, push dial. It would be much easier than what I do right now, push the phonebook button, select the get a number option, enter a number to indicate the first letter, push the down arrow till I reach the right number, select the number, and finally push the call button. Man that sucks. Bring on the scroll wheel.

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I recall seeing a refrigerator with a built-in telephone and answering machine on a '80s "Price Is Right" or "Wheel Of Fortune". Thank $DEITY for Game Show Network!

From Phone to iPod back to Phone.

[momus_radar]

According to the article, the phone syncs with a computer and the iTunes Music Store like an iPod does, and incorporates the iPod interface for navigating and playing digital music

Pixo is the company that created the navigation interface that is used in the iPod. Before the iPod, and its eventual acquisition by Sun, their thing was making navigation systems for cellphones. Pixo created the system now known as the iPod OS specifically for navigating through thousands of music files on a cellphone. The original iPod software even gave credit for Pixo's contribution to the iPod project, along with the work of PortalPlayer (not certain, but I believe they came up with the scroll wheel).

--
Hey, which crazy thing happening are you guys screaming about?

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Anonymous Coward]

Find someone who owns a Mac, and there you go!

Demoed? But it's already available.

[tai]

Article below says new mobile phone from Fujitsu (Panasonic) supports iTunes, and is in sale since last year.

• FOMA F901ic

Did I say it also has built-in IC-card, 2D barcode reader, video camera, and J2ME support? It's a cool product.

And if you're looking for MP3-enabled mobile phone, "Music Porter" mobile phone from Mitsubishi might come to your interest:

• Music Porter

It looks like a varient of Nintendo GameBoy Advanced, but it's a mobile phone with built-in FM tuner, MP3 player, and camera.

No, not with any Bluetooth phone

[alphafoo]

I have a Motorola RazrV3, and the author does not think the Clicker will ever work on it (per his email to me).

The phone is so thin and sleek, but it's so impoverished when it comes to software.

Re: no iPhone.. it's an e398!

[snaxx]

The phone pictured running iTunes is the e398. It is a relatively cheap phone, released Q1 2004 and has MP3 playback already. A while back I read the Apple Motorola phone will be based on the e398, and again it springs up. I am pretty certain the specifications of the e398 will match those on the final Apple / Motorola phone. Whether it gets a new case or OS skin is a different story...

e398 Review

e398 Specifications

the start of the iPhone rumor

[decimal0]

i believe the 'iPhone' rumors came from Apple grabbing the domain name iPhone.org a few years back.

Using the name now would probably just cause some market confusion and not a little bit of litigation...

Re:the start of the iPhone rumor

[adpowers]

Well, I know there have been rumors for a long time, but I was referring to the recent speculation.

http://dms.tecknohost.com/macrumors/i/ihome/

[Anonymous Coward]

http://dms.tecknohost.com/macrumors/i/ihome/

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Anonymous Coward]

but what do these things have in common?

Do you have to ask? Both phone and MP3 player are about sound.

Why no iPod with bluetooth support?

[gpoul]

That way you could accept calls from your cell while listening to music on the iPod without taking out the phone and switching off the iPod.

Why did nobody in Cupertino have that idea? :-)

Re:Why no iPod with bluetooth support?

[xjerky]

I almost bought a pair of Bluetooth headphones expressly for that purpose (It used an adapter to interface with the ipod) which cost over $200. But then I read a review that said there was an FM-quality hiss in the background. I can understand that Bluetooth just wasn't meant for high-fidelity sound, but there's no way I'd pay $200 for hiss.

Re:Why no iPod with bluetooth support?

[gpoul]

I was actually thinking the other way around. - The bluetooth would have the bluetooth logic and terminate the call from the cellphone directly into your headphones.

That way you have hi-fi sound while also getting your phone calls and everything would be integrated.

Convergence Obsolescence

[Paraplex]

I believe the future of all this "convergence" is just to have a simple single function PDA/Mobile phone which can VNC to directly control your home PC.. a PDA permanently connected to the net.. its possible right now and makes all these "breakthroughs" obsolete.. its just the phone call costs which are making it impractical...

anyone got this setup up and running?

'plex

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[Anonymous Coward]

The same people that have been putting BSD on their toasters!

Re:Phone & MP3 player?

[minimunchkin]

Surfing on a fridge would be cool. Sorry...

I call fake

[Cybertect]

Looks like a cardboard box with some PhotoShopped paper stuck on it. And the same for the box it's packed in.

I Guess ....

[Anonymous Coward]

We'll have to confirm the rumor the old fashion way....

Wait for the lawsuit!

Re: It's the wrong font!

[ludw]

It's not Myriad Pro which is the "Apple font".

1. The i-dot is square, it should be round.
2. The H is to wide.
3. The o is to round, it whould be more oval.
4. The M should have sloping sides.

So, It's clearly a fake. Apple wouldn't change font just like that.

This one is for you then

[Anonymous Coward]

This one's for you then, the keypad-less Nokia 7280: http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,,62356,00.html

Every review I've read of it seems to suggest the lack of a keypad makes the phone more or less useless, but hey...

Good for workouts

[cyclobotomy]

As a cyclist, I would love to only carry one device on my rides instead of my cell phone and iPod. As long as the battery life is more than five hours for playback I won't complain.

another [OT] true story

[Anonymous Coward]

I once rode a ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, got drunk. I tried to get some shut-eye in a corner lounge when I overheard this conversation:

Dude1: Ah ham vreally dvrunk.
Dude2: Oh yah ah ham vreally dvrunk too.

Dude1: No Ah ham vreally vreally dvrunk. Are you?
Dude2: Oh yah ah ham vreally vreally dvrunk too.

Dude1: Ah ham so vreally vreally dvrunk.
Dude2: Oh yah me too.

Dude1: Hey...Ah ham a Sweedish guy.
Dude2: Hey! Ah ham a Sweedish guy too.

Dude1: Hey...You are a Sweedish guy?
Dude2: Yah, Ah ham a Sweedish guy.

Dude1: If you are a Sweedish guy, then vhy are ve speaking English?

Dude2: Yah, Ah don't know.

Dude1: Ah ham vreally dvrunk.
Dude2: Oh yah ah ham vreally dvrunk too.