March 10, 2005
iTunes phone delayed
Motorola postpones iTunes phone release - MENAFN.com
According to the article, Motorola's phone is ready to go, but the phone carrier(s) aren't ready for them. We may see them in the summer. No carriers were named in the article, although Vodaphone was speculated for the European release. Reportedly, these phones are able to hold about as many songs as the iPod shuffle while being, well, a phone. Memory upgrades would also be available.
While I don't quite see the point of this particular hybrid product (I don't really want to jog with my phone, and on my commute I'd rather have my iPod with its robust library of music--not to mention the battery-life sharing issues of having your phone and your music player in one unit), I find myself wanting one. I think that's more the gadget-buying impulse in me than anything else, and like all those urges, they can be fought off (still don't have a camera phone).
It's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of hybrid technology (the bards of the tech world), but there is the off-chance that placing a music player such as iTunes into a phone could further revolutionize the music distribution industry (I know mp3 phones are nothing new, but no carrier has truly taken advantage of the technology, hence its hybrid-mediocrity). Wouldn't it be a neat option to be able to access the iTunes Music Store from your phone, download songs onto it, then be able to transfer the songs onto your computer? Hear a song you like? As long as you have your phone on you, that song could be yours instantly. Consumerism at its best, right?
kwc at March 11, 2005 01:55 PM
an iTunes phono would be more valuable as an exercise-player than the iPod shuffle. For cycling, at least, you always need to carry a cellphone, and if you put a Bluetooth audio interface in it you could listen to your music without any annoying headphone wires. There's also something graceful about a device that can sync both your contacts, calendar, cameraphone pics, and music at the same time (no idea if the Moto phone does this, but it would be nice). It would be even cooler it cell phone data connections were cheap enough that the phone constantly refreshed the play list over-the-air.
That said, Apple is limiting the number of songs the phone carries so as to not compete with iPods, so it's likely this device will be a shadow of it's real potential.
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kenji at March 11, 2005 09:57 PM
That's true. I was actually thinking more along the lines of running, where you don't want to carry that phone with you (unless it's a long run into the wilderness). Also, those bluetooth headsets are kind of goofy right now, but by the time this thing comes out (many years from now), that will probably be greatly improved.
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kwc at March 11, 2005 10:12 PM
Bluetooth headsets do seem to be borg-inspired, don't they? I actually haven't seen any yet that are specifically designed for musical audio (versus cellphone audio, which is much lower quality), especially none that were designed for exercise, which all goes to say that my previous comment was more about the theoretical potential of a cellphone + mp3 player. In reality, cellphone mp3 players have been around for 4 years now, and none of them, not even one that can sync to iTunes, is perhaps compelling enough to use yet.
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