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iCell in the Works?
SirWraith writes "Ars Technica is running a story speculating on the possibility of an Apple cellphone." From the article: "At last week's CES, Motorola officially dumped Apple with its new ROKR E2 phone and its new iRadio digital music service. ... After the ROKR's lackluster launch, speculation abounded that Apple was saving the 'good' iTunes phone for itself, and the new 'Mobile Me' trademark lends credence to that line of thinking. At this stage of the game, it looks like Apple is moving in the direction of launching its own cellular service complete with its own lineup of phones (or phone, as the case may be)."
Portable device convergence has been obvious for years, with the inclusion of cameras, music players, video players, video calling, games etc... being crammed into mobile phones, it's unsurprising that Apple would want to segway its iPod market into the mobile phone market.
Which would you rather have? An iPod, or a phone with an iPod built in? If Apple doesn't capitalise on the current media and consumer 'love' for iPods, then the plethora of other devices with similar or superior function will destroy Apples market (and it's only so long before flash storage becomes comperable in capacity to drive based iPods.)
Apple could quite easily pull off a 'one phone' network not because it was technically superior or cheaper than other networks/handsets, but because Apple would do what Apple does best, give it a slick UI/customer experience and use their flair at advertising to buy the market.
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
Either way, I'll follow suit and ask how much longer will it be until the iPod is your computer, media player, internet access, cell phone, credit card, personal identification, financial recorder/advisor, taser, keyless entry and pace maker?
My work here is dung.
That we could dispense with the rumours?
The disappearance of the 1Gb shuffle might also suggest that its function might be replaced by a "new product". One can't strap a phone to one's arm in a gym, so the smaller shuffle's in a market segment of its own.
Another interesting development is, when Tiger originally came out, a new feature was added that no hardware currently takes advantage of. Tiger can rotate it's screen just like all other Table PCs and most PocketPCs.
Off hand I don't remember how to force it to do so, but Tiger does have this feature. Combined with the new trademark, we may see an Apple PDA and/or Tablet sometime this year.
Will it ask you if its 'okay' to hang up on a telemarketer?
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
It has some nostalgy to it (-:
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Too close to Windows Me.
--
RumorsDaily
I wonder of this is business or tit for tat type of thing.
Dude, I don't know what Immaculate Reception you're thinking of, but the real "Immaculate Reception" happened in 1972 when Terry Bradshaw threw the ball and Franco Harris scooped it up. Doug Flutie didn't start playing in the NFL until several years later (I want to say late 80's/early 90's, but I could be wrong).
Amongst the uses they include mobile phones.
Also can someone stop beating this rumour to death. They'll release it when they figure out a cool name for the product iCell just sounds lame, especially with the supersecret spreadsheet applications "Cells" (amongst a host of other rumours.) With the latest Apple nomenclature, it'd probable be MacPhone.
"A place for evrything and evrything in its place" ... or something like that. I gues Apple thinks that evrything's place is on one mobile device.
Do you suppose we could FINALLY get a US phone with Wi-Fi that works, Bluetooth where the carrier doesn't lock out data/sync, and while I'm at it, Palm OS and a good size screen?
I have on this website and on another predicted that Apple will simply buy a mobile phone network. Before anyone argues that they don't have the market cap, I will say that smaller fish have been known to swallow biggers ones, and I believe that there are venture capitalists and banks that would be prepared to back Apple on this one. It's the only logical way to go.
I think he is talking about the Hail Mary Flutie through to Gerard Phelan to help BC beat Miami. You know, in college, where the real football is played. As for his pro career, he started in the USFL, crossed the picket lines in the NFL during the 1987 strike then started in the CFL in 1990 and moved back to the NFL in the late 90s.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
At this stage of the game, it looks like Apple is moving in the direction of launching its own cellular service complete with its own lineup of phones (or phone, as the case may be).
I could see Apple releasing a cell phone of its own, but cellular service? Apple's customers are notoriously loyal, and it works for them. Cellular customers, on the other hand, are notoriously fickle. Maybe Apple could bring some of that customer loyalty to the cellular market, but I doubt it.
Isamu Sanada is an industial designer who designs fictious
Apple products in his spare time:
http://www.applele.com/index.html
http://www.applele.com/pictures.html
I personally favor this iPhone design:
http://www.applele.com/pict_04hipod_r02.html
Almost better than the real thing!
Winner of the Heisman Trophy, Doug threw his infamous Hail Mary Touchdown Pass in the last seconds of Boston College's 47-45 upset over Miami.
The launch wasn't lackluster, they had damn near every celebrity alive and a few celebrities who were dead. No, it was the product that was a POS.
My pick is that it will be seperated package with very close support for all type iPod. It could be like that you can pair iPod and Apple iCell and listen to both trough handfree. When call arrives, iPod would silent a little bit or something like that.
I see that Apple like to seperate things, in same time ensure that simply would fit together and work. But if their cell phone will be the same quality as iPod (I mean not only technically, also in design and "working together"), then I would like to buy one, because there is serious problems to buy cell phone which would not suck. Seriosly. I don't need mp3 support. I don't need fm support. I don't need camera (thought I could live with it and even use it time after time, so no problem if there is one). I need good looking, stylish, working cell phone which I can call, I can sync numbers from address books, I can dump my messages to computer, etc.
Just simple as that.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
Remember that trademark language is designed to avoid the possibility of other companies piggybacking on the term. "Mobile Me" could just be a suite of portable products that Apple is considering, but the company wants to avoid some cell phone-maker coining the term and creating brand confusion; thus it includes the language about telecommunication services.
Here is the actual excerpt from the trademark office about what Apple's filing covers. Notice how buried "cellular" is:
Computer services; computer data recovery; data analysis being computer services; computer programming; updating of computer software; maintenance of computer software, computer and communications networks, and computer systems; research and development of computer hardware and software; website design, creation, hosting services; customized imprinting and design of messages, correspondence and other written communication which are delivered by electronic transmission; computer on-line services for the search, retrieval, indexing and organization of data on computer and communication networks; providing use of on-line, non-downloadable software; providing use of on-line, non-downloadable software for communications via local or global communications networks, including the Internet, Intranets, Extranets, television, mobile communication, cellular, and satellite networks; analyzing data to detect, eradicate and prevent the occurrence of computer viruses; computer services relating to the protection of computer hardware, computer software, computer networks and computer systems against computer viruses, attacks, or failures; computer services for enhancing the performance, security and functionality of computer and communications networks; computer help-line services; technical support services relating to computers, computer software, telecommunications, and the Internet; consultancy and provision of information and advice relating to the aforesaid; all provided on-line from a computer database or provided from facilities on local or global communications networks, including the Internet, Intranets, Extranets, television, mobile communication, cellular, and satellite networks
the interface? Hard to say. To me one of the biggest appeals of the iPod is it has the best damn interface there is for a portable music player. Now is it possible to keep this interface while adding a phone interface? Of course I could be wrong, but I'm guessing no. All they need to do is to give Nokia a ring to find out just how difficult it is to make a phone that also does something else. Face it, humans probably aren't going to change significantly in the next 5 years so we will be stuck with the limitations our little fingers and faces give us. To me, that is the biggest obstacle facing convergance devices.
Monstar L
The Independent: Reverend Spooner Arrested in Friar Tuck Incident - ISIHAC, Historical Headlines
Don't get me wrong, I think that Apple can produce a winner in any tech area if it set its collective mind and resources to it. But, in my opinion, I don't really think this is something Apple would want to try. Apple has no technological experience in cell phone technology, other than what it might have learned from Motorola during their brief collaboration. The market is already awash in cell phones. Granted, few of them have the panache of the iPod, and they are bloated in pointless features that could be done much better. The profit margins for cell phones are much slimmer than the iPod, even for something high-end like the RAZR. Could Apple produce something with both iPod and cellphone technology crammed into it, and still charge a reasonable market price for it?
When Apple hit the mp3-player scene in 2002, there were some competing products from mostly small companies that had limitations due to the necessary tradeoffs. But, mp3-players were a nascent luxury item at the time, whereas cellphones are now, more or less, a commodity item. Almost nobody at the time had experience in mp3-player design and manufacture, whereas cellular phones are a mature product. Consider the players in today's cellphone market: Samsung, Motorola, Nokia, and about a dozen others that aren't as prevalent in the U.S. In comparison to the mp3-player market of 2002, the cellphone market of today is a cut-throught, kill-or-be-killed, Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"-like world filled with a bunch of predators.
Even if Apple were to make an iCell, what would it do with it? Without a service provider to back it, the phone is dead-on-arrival. Will the allure of Apple's logo and the iPod brand be enough for service providers to risk the wrath of the other cellphone manufacturers? I don't know.
I guess if a convergence between the iPod and a cellphone is inevitable, then I'd prefer Apple to take a crack at it first (and don't cite the ROKR as a counterexample, that thing was a kludge of competing interests). Steve Jobs has often said that cellphones are poorly designed - trying to get the feature list make up for the fact that they aren't better thought out. Still, is this something that Apple really wants to be a part of?
I think it would be better for Apple to Just add Wi-Fi support to the iPod.
That way Apple will have internet access which they could use for downloading music/video, web-surfing etc.
In a few years, when Wi-Fi is as wide-spread as the cellphone networks are, they can easily convert the iPod to a VoIP phone. All you need is to add a mic and a speaker (or just use head-phones with an attached mic). They could even keep their wheel thingie, and just put numbers around it.
That enables Apple to control their own VoIP network and circumvent the cellphone service providers. Plus they won't need to go through the hassle of incorporating GSM (or whatever) technology into the iPod.
Tech e Blog posted photos of a possible Apple iPhone Concept
/. community can judge for theirselves.
I have no idea regarding the validity of these photos, they could be 100% doctored, but I'll just provide the link and the
Dan
No man is an island, But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie them together, they make a pretty good raft.
It depends upon the services they wrap around it that the other carriers can't provide. They wouldn't be just another Mobile provider - it would be crazy for them to enter the market without some kind of differentiator.
It's an incredibly competitive market already though, so they'd have to offer something pretty special or unique.
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
It's an ipod with built in 202.11g network connectivity and iTMS. Post anonymously due to...hold on, someone's at the doo
Maybe it's because I work in a Public Defenders office and deal with inmates all day, but was I the only one who wondered (after reading the title) why Apple wanted to get into the Prison Construction field? (cell blocks for those still not awake)
Are mobile phones even Cellular anymore?
They can do it if they follow the shuffle concept and make you do all the "big" work in iTunes, like maintaining your contact list etc. They would be the only phone makers who could expect all their customers to have access to a PC. Sending SMS messages would be the big difficulty, but this is less relevant in the US, and might be replaced by spoken/photographed MMS messages. The rare occasion where you need to dial a number you don't have in memory, you would have to accept a more lengthy way, like rotating up the digits and acknowledging with a tap. All this to say they could make a phone without a numeric keyboard.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
Just as long as they make a 300gb iCell.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Infamous?
;)
So, I take it you're a Miami fan.
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Other speculation is that the play here isn't for a conventional cellphone. It's for VOIP.
:)
A conventional cellphone means that Apple would have to kowtow to all the carriers and their phone would be just one phone among a plethora of other, well-established outfits (Nokia, Moto, Samsung, whoever).
But a VOIP phone using wifi would enable Apple to sidestep being just another player and control the whole thing all the way down the line. Of course there is the minor problem of establishing a huge wifi network, but maybe this is where Google and friends come in, and anyway didn't someone say this is all wild, wild speculation?
Can't recall where I read this. Mabye yesterday on Slashdot
Las qué passoun
tournoun pas maï
It too, was called the "Immaculate Reception." Check this story.
If anything, they'll do like Virigin Mobile and team up with another provider (ala Sprint) who'll handle the entire network side of things. All that Apple would have to do is continue to charge exubert amounts of money for their shiney merchandise for all to "Oooo" and "Ahhhh" over. Honestly I can see this happening, it does seem like a logical step for Apple's product revolution.
If big boobed women work at Hooters do one legged women work at IHOP?
And besides, what's the point of Apple signing up to OLD technology ? We're more likely to see Skype release a hotspot VOIP phone. There's already the USB Skype phone that sold out almost instantly in Japan. Why would anyone want to PAY for a phone call now ?
I wonder if the Motorola deal will come back to haunt Apple. If the impression that other copmanies come away with is that Apple held back on the Motorola deal so they could launch a better deal for themselves, that could hurt future relationships.
OTH, I realize that in business dealings you very rarely get both sides of the story and Apple may be able to sit down with future partners and easily allay any fears they might have. Business is funny like that and has a lot more to do with confidence than with money.
Just my 2 cents.
iMob (for Mobile)
If Apple is planning to increase the range of devices around its "digital hub", and so benefits from being able to offer more seamless interoperation, is it time that Microsoft got into the hardware business and started building MS PCs?
Or is that what the Xbox is?
Actually, the original "Immaculate Reception" was many years before the Flutie Pass (the actual event, not the street), and in an NFL game.
The cell phone could be an iPod accessory like the iPod Radio Remote (http://www.apple.com/ipod/accessories.html).
I think that a better way to go might be to make a tiny iPod nano sized phone that can connect to the nano back to back but connected so that the calls pause the music and make the headphones the hands free. That way you can just take the phone with you when that is all you need (and vice versa). They would need to be able to share the battery power for when connected while still maintaining their own battery each for when they are separate.
They could also do some fancy battery management that warns you when your music listening takes the battery below a certain % so you don't miss calls.
Although I don't think even that would make me give up my old school 15gb 3rd gen, its got the retro iPod feel (I know the 1st and 2nd gen are more retro but they were huge and I have grown attached to mine!)
(OT: I am just starting to learn Dvorak and damn it is annoying not being able to type fast! This post took ages!)
What a disgusting greed world we live in...
The article states this - 'Mobile Me relates to a number of goods and services, including "telecommunication services for the dissemination of information by mobile telephone'. The worst thing about the Motorola phone (which is also an Mp3 player) was the lack of access to iTunes while mobile. The only people that can provide this are Apple. So Apple is trademarking some marketing terms related to the ability to access iTunes across mobile networks. This would enable future mobile phones (e.g. Motorola) to access/buy tunes via the handheld while mobile. Theres nothing to really say that Apple is playing on making mobile phones.
I know someone who's seen the prototypes over a year ago now - other people in the same company were working on it. When I said "they're taking us back to a dial interface, aren't they?" This person said nothing, but their face said it all...
Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
I think it's as easy as Apple getting fed up of the cell phone companies control over the phone. The ROKR E2 could have easily been a wonderful product, and I think the reviews pointed this out in amazing detail. Apple wanted to put the features in that the reviews begged for, but the cell phone companies would not allow it. If Apple controls the network, it no longer has that problem. Simple!
There's a huge female market for a device that is both a phone and an i-pod, for example. Why? Because if women's handbags come in lots of sizes, but mostly they are small. Any real estate in the handbag is valuable, and a device that performs the function of 2 devices, with a slick, obvious interface, plus that you can get a pink case for, will destroy the competition.
stuff |
apple is trying to do with the mp3 market. apple and google both enjoy legions of fanboys and generally high consumer trust. the cell phone market has a lot of rough edges; shady billing practices (in canada, i have to pay for detailed billing), unclear service agreements, contracts that are only available to new customers, etc. apple will probably offer a very clean service that costs more but is easier to understand without a law degree.
iCell is already used in the cellphone industry. Though most cellphone users don't know this. It has been used for years, by Telos Technologies (bought by UTStarcom), for the IP base stations. Most specifically the All-IP CDMA base stations.
Though not exactly the same, I think there will be trade mark problems.
UTStar iCell: IP Based cellular base station system
Apple iCell: iPod cellular phone
And you know how sensitive people are to trademarks these days, especially across industries.
For those interested in what an IP base station is, and how it relates to traditional base stations have a look at a presentation (pdf) done by Jack Marr about All-IP CDMA infrastructure, it has some nice differences between traditional infrastructure and All-IP infrastructrue.
It seems like Apple is all about creating convenient devices with simple interfaces and engaging for factors that work all the time. It would be a HUGE risk for Apple to create an iPod with cell phone functionality, because if the phone service that they subscribed to did not work in certain areas, Joe Consumer would more than likely get mad at the device instead of the service provider. Along those lines that's probably why Apple opted for an FM transmitter plug in for the iPod instead of integrating it into the device... if Joe Consumer has reception problems, they blame the device instead of the station/weather/location. It seems like something Apple would be very hesitant to do.
So Apple will soon announce a tablet, a PDA, and a VOIP phone/iPod, each of which will work with the wireless infrastructure that Google is rolling out.
See if I'm wrong!
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Move your finger over the clickwheel a distance to dial that number. Nice, innovative (pointless and stupid) and reducing the number of buttons. So you might dial a few wrong numbers, see it is a feature to make new friends.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
check out the sony erricson w800i. you can get flash cards up to 2 GB and eventually up to 4gb. it's interface is already years ahead of the rokr.
Wouldn't it be really cool if while I iron my shirts I could watch the latest video of Lost or listen to a great song like Simon and Garfunkel's The Sound Of silence? let's cram An FM RADIO, Video/Camera, MP3, Email, MRI, CT-SCAN, TANNING BOOTH etc .. into very small devices and call it an iALL!
...
.. you would think a company like Apple with it's global rescources would not fall to the emperical world of MORE MORE MORE ... and provide the customer with uhm ..... hmm I just thought of something really cool ...
.. and we can all make finger puppets and go on a tanning retreat ... it will save us money and be so convenient ...
... but I can personally careless about a cellphone that plays music... it's bad enough that people are annoying with their cell phones in public .. now we are going to have a short in the theatre that says, "Please kindly turn off your cellphone" and "Also turn of your iIRON and iPOD" ....
.. but I thought it was funny ... ... probably could, but that would just be overkill.
...
What if I managed to put it in my iron? Would I call it an iIron? Maybe I can connect it to my toilet and when I fush I can get the sam sound as an Apple Computer starting up instead of the whirl of the water
I dont know people
Apple should invent a minaturized tanning booth for fingers and thumbs
I like most, do love gadgets
sorry for the rant
Hmm, I wonder if Apple could put a Hummer in the next iIron
if your funny too email me
mikeisgreat_AT_gmail_com
... but only if they use the iPod's wheel to simulate a rotary-dial phone.
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iWouldn't Buy iT, iT iProbably would be too iXpensive...
... iDontCare and iRather keep my old Nokia 9120 that can make iCalls just the same
Not to be a dick, but you realize "segue" is spelled, "segue", right? I hated that name (segway) from the moment I laid ears on it.
will it have one button, and the calls that are made on an apple cell phone be propietary and only compatible with other apple cell phones?
Back in the day, I used to carry around a PDA (starting with a Palm III) and cellphone (my first was a Motorolla StarTac) and I really hated having two devices. I don't know how common this is, but I HATE having things in my pockets. In fact, I only have three keys (car, house, mailbox) on my keyring and I carry my driver's license and credit card in my shirt pocket. I'm one of those guys where the first thing I do when I come home is to dump the contents of my pockets. My wife teases me that I only married her so that when we go out I'll have someone to take my change (she has a coin pouch in her purse). For me, the convergence of a phone and PDA was a Godsend.
A year or two ago the company I worked for gave me an iPod as a "reward" for hard work on a project. I was very impressed (if you haven't purchased anything from Apple, let me say that even the packaging shows impressive design--as odd as that may sound) with the iPod. Having some knowledge and experience in usability, I was pleased with the clean interface and the way that it seemlessly integrated with iTunes (which we were already using to buy music). The sound quality seemed decent (I'm not an audiophile, I just like music) and the device seemed pretty cool overall. But after a month or two, I sold it.
Why? Because I didn't want to go back to having two devices.
My Treo is an adequate phone (with the headphone, it's more than adequate) and a pretty good PDA. It plays MP3s through my car stereo well enough--when you're in a convertable with the top down, sound quality isn't as noticable. It's also a fairly good eBook reader (my primary use when waiting for meetings or out shopping), game device (Palm MAME), and Web browser (slow and a smallish screen, but good enough for getting directions when I'm lost or checking Web mail).
I understand that there are folks out there who aren't interested in convergence, and probably a lot of others who are interested only if the quality of all the converged devices is as high as separate ones. But if you are interested in having just one device, check out the Treo 650.
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
You buy time on networks. Far less expensive and easier to do. Many cell phone brands you see today don't have their own networks. There is no point.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Name one good reason why Apple would make a cellphone?
Can't think of one either myslef.
I mean, Apple should make cars, PDA's, televisions, cable boxes, light switches, DVD players, game consoles, etc, etc, etc. There are a slew of products I wish Apple could make to make my life easier or just make things nicer to look at, that doesn't mean Apple SHOULD make those products.
There is no point for Apple to make a cellphone. First, they would have to jump into the world of embedded processors and create an embedded version of OSX. This isn't going to happen. Second, they would have to create PDA like functionality to compete with the popularity of all-in-one communication devices like the Treo or Smartphones. This isn't going to happen. Lastely, this market is ALREADY saturated with manufacturers making wildly popular phones. Its not like when Apple created the iPod at a time when MP3 players were big and klunky and not well implemented. Companies like Nokia and Motorola already have a firm grip on consumers by making very good phones. Other companies like Samsung come out with hits every now and then as well. There is simple TOO much competion in this market for Apple to enter it.
Most people want an iPod that works as a cellphone. This isn't going to happen. Apple can't even add an FM Transmitter or Bluetooth or Wifi to an iPod for easier connectivity. Adding support for a cellphone service to iPod is going to happen?
Give it up. Apple isn't in the process or developing a cellphone. It isn't in their gameplan and there is no chance for them to compete well in this industry. It goes against their current philosophies. Apple would have had a PDA device available today if they ever considered making a cellphone.
I would expect an Apple vacuum cleaner before an Apple cellphone.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
Since I haven't seen them...
...but will it run Linux?
Will it have DRM support?
In Soviet Russia...
I, for one, will welcome our new phone overlords
All Your Calls Are Belong To Us
Imagine a beowulf cluster of these things!
A lot of people called "women" carry their phone inside a luggage device called as "purse". They need the phone to *ring* to know someone is calling them.
I have been hearing 'OMG, Apple is going to release a cell phone!' for the past 2 years. It seems interesting to me that Slashdot keeps posting these 'new' rumors every time the drooling Apple fanatics expect Apple to release a phone, but doesn't, and the rumormill is sure that the next Apple announcement is going to be a freakin phone. Sometimes I wish I could understand what the big deal is about this one company. (He says after buying an iMac Core Duo the day it was announced.)
Everyone seems to be focusing on the phone itself. Yeah sure, Apple designers could probably develop one snazzy phone. Let's think about the service for a minute though. Virgin Mobile, not really one that we'd consider a powerhouse (Verizion, Cingular, etc) is doing pretty damn good. Now imagine Apple coming in and doing the same thing. Of course, Apple would have SOOOOO much more to offer...a stylish phone, iTunes integration, ease of use...all things that could quickly add to more profit for Apple.
Let's also not forget the intangibles. Just having the Apple name would allow Apple to charge quite a premium, just as they do for their computers and iPods. We saw when the iPod first came out that people would pay more for that mp3 player rather than other ones that had more features and higher capacities. And let's not forget how loyal Apple fans are. So now we've got the trendy factor in addition to the loyalty factor. All of a sudden it doesn't sound like such a bad idea, does it? Apple makes money on the product AND the service.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
This phone will not replace the iPod and the iPod is not gonna have a phone. It is going to be a seperate device just like the ROKR was only better. The iPod market will not suffer.
People have been saying that for a while now.
There have been a few "next steps" for Apple since then, like the AirPort family, iPod (1-4G, Nano, Mini, Photo, and now video), FrontRow and the digital video influence, and now Intel chips.
"Logical" and Apple don't jibe. Apple decides what will be "logical", not the other way around.
Steve Jobs makes a point to elevate his work beyond pedestrian predictability. It's the secret sauce..
The iPhone is slick, easy to use! I've been waiting my entire life for something that looked so cool and was so easy to use. It just works and just fits perfect in my front pocket and is really cool to look at. No more combersome keypad as the postive feeling smooth scrolling wheel (patent pending) does it all, what an innovation. I don't know how a billion people in the world could have used any other phone corded or wireless not made by Apple for the last hundred years!
I know I claimed I did not want anything more then a portable music player, I know I said I only wanted a phone that only had a phone, I know I said who needs video on a portable because it would kill the battery, I know I've stated that you do not really need a display screen on a portable player. Luckily this device does not have a FM radio though as no one needs that and that would ruin the whole package! This product made by Apple has changed my mind for all of those and this is exactly what I have been waiting for!
AAAAAAAAA++++++++++++ would buy again!!!
I read an article about a year ago that speculated that in the long-run the iPod will become low margin and the iTMS will become the big money-maker for Apple. If this is the case, then I see Apple becoming a service provider like Virgin Mobile and selling an "iPhone" at a loss so that they can earn revenues selling music and videos wirelessly.
why all the talk of apple and motorola not working together. the razr v3i is going to have itunes built in. now that does look like a design to rival the ipods
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http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details/
How well could that work?
Don't get me wrong, I think that Apple can produce a winner in any tech area if it set its collective mind and resources to it. But, in my opinion, I don't really think this is something Apple would want to try.
It's kind of incredible you can miss the complete disconnect between these two sentences.
The reason you think they can produce a winner at everything is because they only produce the things they've designed that are winners. Steve Jobs himself says "it comes from saying no to 1,000 things".
I'm sure we can all come up with product ideas so absurd that even Apple couldn't make them not suck. The reason Apple's stuff does not suck is because they're not wasting time trying to sell the sucky stuff.
in Mac OS X's Address Book app, you can pick a contact as 'me' meaning you, the currently logged in user. This may just be a way to also have a contact in address book labeled 'mobile me', possibly to temporarily change your contact info for while you are traveling or on the road.
OR
It could be the much anticipted "home on iPod" or similar. This is where you can just keep your home directory on your iPod, and carry it with you. Allowing you to log into ANY mac (supporting it) and have all your pref.'s and documents (stuff in your home folder) with you.
His iPod earbud was still in his right ear, and he was talking on a cellphone pressed up to his left ear. An iCell with a headset would have been perfect for his multi-tasking gentleman.
I am still looking for a suitable descriptive name for this form of multi tasking.
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I have a Dell 20 inch widescreen display hooked up to my Mac mini. It rotates 90 degrees to portrait mode and I am able to change the display to match. It is very useful for certain operations.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Count me in the very same camp! I'm so tired of seeing phone designers adding more and more divergent functions into phones, when the basic phone functionality actually seems to be decreasing in quality. I can't seem to find a phone that doesn't sound like crap, drop too many calls, and balance poorly in my hand because there are buttons in poorly located locations. Also, my employer specifically bans all cameras on its property except where granted specific permission by our security department. Camera-less phones are becoming harder and harder to find, though I am impressed to see that Verizon offers a camera-free Treo 650.
Just an observation. Some of the commenters try to find some logic of whether cellphones with camera and mp3 service and so on have a point or not.
:)?
This doesn't matter in the least for Apple.
When Steve Jobs and fellas bashed mp3 cell phones (and the ROKR in particular) for saying people want specialised devices that do one thing, and so iPod will do forever only music, wtf is this:
- Repeatedly we're told that integrating camera on an iPod sucks (though we have an add-on), yet.. uhmm anyone notices iMac has one? and the new MacBook Pro. How the hell is a desktop machine more deserving of a camera than a portable camera shaped device
- After repeatedly denying video for iPod because it'll suck and makes no sense, we now have video capable iPod
- After repeatedly bashing Intel and "undeniably proving" how so much better and faster PowerPC is, now Macs are Intel based. The remaining targets for the marketing campaigns are "Windows sucks" and "PC-s are boring". Why are they boring? Cuz they don't have backlit keyboard or something? No clue. My PC is pretty interesting, and my PC case even has blinking red lights. But it still costs less than $1000.
Anyway, it's understandable, since Apple is a branding company. The rules bend, morph and change to accomodate the latest campaign Apple is launching.
The fact that they are producing computers is just a side effect from the need to make something appealing to the artsy crowd and casual users and hype it up as much as possible.
Whatever it is. Leave it to Apple and Jobs and soon you'll be buying overpriced paper iTissues, why? Because they are THE BEST in the world, and WAY BEYOND anything else the regular paper tissue is. They are JUST amazing. Why? Because [insert bogus claims that sound reasonable to non experts]. Ok now go buy.
In that light, if they see market opportunity in hyped up cellphones, they'll go for it, no doubt about it.
And those cellphones will have one single button!
There is a large performance impact when you rotate the screen 180 with the OSx utility. At least on my Mac mini.
I only use it to run GuitarRig and Itunes. I tried rotating the screen since I see more songs that way, and the system performance instantly decreases. I never though it would be this bad, but just rotating the screen, causes GuitarRig and Itunes to become unusable - slow. There is a very noticable performance hit.
I don't see the same problem when I have me 2, LCDs rotated on my PC using the program iRotate(which is supposed to use the hardware rotate capabilities of the video cards)
I don't know it it is a problem how OSx handles the rotation, or the limited video card in the MacMini, but in my experience, this is unusable.
Breaking News!! When Steve Jobs goes to the bathroom, he makes iPoop.
He could benefit from this, then.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
Am I the only one who still reads ROKR as the last name of a famous Good Morning America weatherman who has recently shed his rotund image by losing weight?
Start up as an MVNO and don't deal with the headache of managing copper and expensive switching technology, especially when it is most certainly NOT in line with Apple's core business. The whole point (at least as so far evidenced by existing players) of MVNOs is to take a strong brand and apply it to the otherwise boring business of selling mobile services. Apple could run as an MVNO and hit a niche market with 1-3 solid phone models that leverage the Apple brand, ease of use, good aesthetics, etc. If they pick a carrier with strong data services, they'd have a perfect tie-in to .MAC and say, free data access for .MAC members. They could even position themselves as something other than direct competition with the iPod by controlling both product lines (as opposed to insisting on arbitrary song limits eg. ROKR).
Ideally, I see them creating a phone with around 512MB of music storage (perhaps ending the shuffle line), BT A2DP (stereo bluetooth), and an accompanying attachment for iPods that allows people to listen to music on the Pod wirelessly, then switch over to the phone as necessary. This is already existing technology and will be widespread by 2H 2006. One nice aspect to this is that video will always have larger space requirements, so if it takes off, they could transition music over to the phone and let the iPod function for video.
'the Internet is right.'
The photos show clearly where my car was and where their car was. My insurance company didn't pay a dime. I received a check from theirs.
So I don't think convergence in this respect is a bad thing.
I agree with you on this point since I had a similar experience. However, I carry an ultra small digicam for this exact purpose, and for general hobby photography since hauling my big Olympus profissional digicam around with me is tiring and most of all because my old camera equipped GSM phone kept getting confiscated by security guards when I went to a meeting at some other company during work. Another thing security goons seem to be getting panicky about these days are iPods and GSM-phones with built in sound recording softwre or dictaphones. I guess they must be worried about the empty promises their bosses make during meetings might be recorded and used against them when they try to weasel out of verbal agreements. I think I would not like a GSM/iPod hybrid half as much as a mini-PDA with iTunes installed especially if it was fully sync'able with OS.X and now that MS Office for Mac is to feature imporved syncing with mobile devices an MS Office integrated, Apple mini-PDA would be perfect for me.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I know this was a joke moderation, but I would really like to think there is someone out there with mod points who thinks this is a good idea....it would explain a lot about /. =)
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
you can't use a mod score in a subject line? Is that a feature or a bug?
"You know why you do not see me styling wit my homies? Because I have no homies!!" -Mojo Jojo
I think that this may be a more subtle move on Apple's part. Maybe they're going to make some Bluetooth dongle for your iPod that allows it to talk with your phone. Your music would pause when the phone rang, and special headphones would have a microphone built in. It could even allow iTMS access through your phone, downloading and transferring the songs without a "real" computer.
*and* the RAZR *and* the PEBL. Plus, who needs music on a phone?
Me? I'm waiting for Moto's phone with built-in personal self-defense features: the TAZR
"Hello?" ZZZZZZZZAPPP "D'oh! Why did they have to put that stupid button there?!"
or at least insightful. Hey tbone1, I like your twisted humour. I suppose by now you are fairly used to people not "getting the humor". Keep on all the same...
Be heard || Be herd
Apple doesn't capitalise on the current media and consumer 'love' for iPods, then the plethora of other devices with similar or superior function will destroy Apples market
They already have for me. My setup is:
* Palm Treo 650 - smartphone / PDA.
* PocketTunes - MP3, OGG and WMA Windows Media DRM-enabled software player for Palm OS.
* Cheap 512MB SD memory card (going to upgrade to a 2GB one when the price falls).
* Rhapsody Unlimited "To Go" subscription - $15 a month for access to a 1.5 million song library on a portable device (although you can also pay $0 a month and buy music just like iTunes, or $8 if you only want to use a desktop PC with the installable client or Firefox streaming plugin).
Two things that Apple are not doing to allow this to happen with them:
* Apple refuses to licence their DRM technology. Notice above we have hardware & two pieces of software from different companies playing brilliantly because they use standard Microsoft Windows Media DRM. I can even play Rhapsody DRM tracks in Yahoo Music Engine. And WMA files on a frickin' Palm handheld. Seriously. Microsoft has their shit together with building DRM that is transparently usable.
* Apple refuses to offer "unlimited" subscriptions to their music store.
My theories:
* Apple is deliberately holding back. They won't licence their DRM as iPod users would then flood other music services (such as the unlimited music subscriptions).
* Apple also won't offer "unlimited" subscriptions as there is no customer lockin across "unlimited" services. You have all the music you want - so long as you have a subscription with *one* of the competing services, you can switch at will - the only thing you've lost are your playlists. Apple likes that you've spent money on tracks that you can't play anywhere but in iTunes.
Conclusion:
* Apple's continued success depends on them being able to maintain the "walled garden" around their iPod and iTunes users. It didn't work for AOL and it's not worked for Microsoft.
Because of this, I'm done with iTunes. AND I'm a Mac user - my main computer is a Powerbook (which is so great it's hugable). EVEN though I had to set up the Rhapsody client on my old Windows XP machine to transfer files to my phone. Yeah, clunky.
But the win is that Rhapsody Unlimited is an addiction - I listen to one or two new albums a day, which would cost about $600 a month on iTunes. For $15 a month, Rhapsody is a bargain and I can still afford to buy one or two physical CDs a month (for DRM-free MP3 ripping). But now I can listen to the entire album as much as I want first to make sure that I won't regret purchasing it. It's so much better than "The iTunes Way". Yahoo Unlimited is cheaper, but it has an ugly player.