Filed under: Accessories, Audio, Hardware, iPod Family, iTS, Rumors
Motorola iPhone Demoed at the D
Jason jumped into chat and fed me this from the D conference at around 8PM EST:
Ed Zander of Motorola took the stage to show off a new Motorola phone running what Walt Mossberg described as "iTunes" and which Zander says will sync with iTunes.
We knew this was coming sooner or later, but here's the cool bits: He says it'll have a speaker loud enough so you can play your tunes from your desk, and it'll come with a 1 megapixel camera. Zander alluded to the Motorola phone containing a hard drive, which means the possibility of many more songs than most people have thought possible with any sort of iTunes capable phone.
Now the real question is: will there be an actual Apple-branded phone? Zander wouldn't comment on this.
What do you think? Will there be an iPod-phone? Would you buy one if there were?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Karl Otto Henriksen said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I would. Probably this summer. But first on my list is food, then Tiger then iPodPhone
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_victor said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I think therefore I am.
Yes.
Yes, eventually.
Unfortunately, "with a hard drive" means this will be a very expensive device. Earlier speculation had led me to believe Moto would have a mid-priced model to get it in to a lot of hands... Imagine pricing the thing around $200 (after rebates even less!). They'd fly off the shelves.
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Corey McLaughlin said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Although I am curious about this phone. I don't think I will be getting one. If this phone using the same OS as the RAZR then I will be really disappointed. As it is not a smartphone OS and lacks many features that power uses really want.
Now if Apple made a phone that's a different story. Something that intergates with Addressbook and iCal completely, oh let's not forget iTunes!
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Hawthorne said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Hell. Yes.
With a 1 megapixel camera, and (hopefully) PDA functionality similar to the iPods, but with text entry via the keypad to update / change entries, I'm first in line. It's save me carrying a small digital camera for scouting, my iPod, my Palm and my phone.
Can't. Wait.
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Jeroen said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Give me a Nokia N91, with iTunes please. Oh, yeah, an Australian iTunes shop too would be nice....
Ok, the N91 won't have iTunes of course, but it can play AAC.....
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bob said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
One thing the ipod shuffle shows is that more is not better. A phone that can play music is an ok idea, but it only needs to hold a day's worth of songs. Let the computer keep track of the rest.
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Will Carroll said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
No. At least not yet. I love my Sidekick II and my 3G 20g iPod. If the iPhone doesn't do anything that's significantly better than my current iPod and forces me to give up my keyboard, easy email and chat, then it's not a viable replacement.
I mean, I do have two pockets.
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anthony said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Phhht! As IF Verizon would carry the mythical iPhone. This has the potential to suck in so many ways :( Heck, I might just buy one just for the sake of owning it - even if my provider doesn't support it.
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Ryan said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I would buy an Apple branded phone in a heartbeat. In fact I will buy whatever phone syncs to iTunes. I've been holding out for a while for a phone that is actually useful in some way beyond a phone, and just as a was about to buy the new blackberry, I heard about an Apple iTunes phone. I dreamt about it! Apparently I need to get out more.
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twodaysgone said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Hmmm. Anyone think about the recent shift of address book/iCal info from iSync to iTunes. Its all handled by iTunes now as far as being synced with the iPod.
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APL said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Sounds like a good start. However, I just played around with a new phone from Sony Ericsson (available out here in Asia) that has a speaker which sounds fairly decent when playing tunes, but also has a 2 megapixel camera and a better OS than Motorola.
Apple needs to get into the phone game. If HP can license iPods, maybe Apple can license phones from Motorola.
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Penginkun said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Apple branded phone? Could be, but I doubt it.
Would I buy it? No. I already have a phone, and I already have an iPod. It might save a little space to have one device, but I don't see the point of fusing these two items.
Besides which, you know the carriers are going to cripple the darn thing.
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creanium said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Quote: "Jason jumped into chat and fed me this from the D conference at around 8PM EST: "
I think it should be pointed out that EST stands for "Eastern Standard Time." Since we are between early April and late October, most of the country is in a time-period commonly referred to as "Daylight Saving Time." That would mean, unless you are living in Indiana, the correct reference would have been "8PM EDT".
Don't feel bad, It's a common mistake. {grin}
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dwntwnboi said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
there's also the trend of people to get phones more frequently that you would get a new ipod. and even people with blackberries are terribly clumsy with them. i treat my ipod very gently, but i don't use it as much as my phone. if i did, it would get much, much more abuse, something that a hdd-based device may not be able to handle.
sure, an apple phone would be awesome, but due to their price and other consequences of dealing with the fickle electronics market as of late, and that some carriers may not support them, they might not sell well enough to continue development of newer, better ones. remember, the ipod went through a couple of generations before it got so uber-popular, and another one since.
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Peter, The Peter Files said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I'd like to hear a lot more about this before making a purchasing decision. Oh to be invited to the Motorola focus groups deciding on features.
Set an iTunes as hold Music during call waiting?
Use your phone as an MP3 or aac recorder?
The points about fragility of phones in general, but I have some visually impaired friends who are extremely stringent about audio quality and much prefer their Motorola phones to all the other models they tested. So this bodes well for an iTunes tie in.
I also like that Motorola is a local brand even if they have to import many parts like everyone e else, much of the design, manufacture and assembly is done here.
I know, narrow beam vision.
The real question is what kind of costs are going to be involved. If I were designing it, I would try to design some kind of flash memory unit card spaces that left room for expansion or upgrades over a 5-7 year period so that changes in memory technology did not anger customers by making what would probably be a pretty expensive phone without a deal from a phone company $500+ pretty angry.
Just sign me, holding off on my next cell purchase until I learn more.
Peter
The Peter Files Blog - Where Blog Spelled Backwards is Glob! Why anyone would care to know that I just don't know
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Macbeb said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I'll buy one only if it's a symbian.
I just hate Motorola's phone.
Working in mobile internet for four years now, I think that only Nokia and Sony Ericcson are able to make a quality smartphone respectfull of Apple's quality products ... others are just gadgets (according to me off course)
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Jason Hall said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I would love to have a phone that could 'do the ipod thing' - but unfortunately don't trust motorola to implement it. Their phone software is probably among the worst there is. IF they can get that sorted - then u'd buy one in a flash. (But i'm not going to hold my breath)
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Jason Hall said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
I would love to have a phone that could 'do the ipod thing' - but unfortunately don't trust motorola to implement it. Their phone software is probably among the worst there is. IF they can get that sorted - then u'd buy one in a flash. (But i'm not going to hold my breath)
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Robert said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
It would be a step in the right direction. Apple is holding back on us, or just missing the picture. The iPod needs to include: a cell phone with a camera, an airport extreme card for the internet, and voice activation so that I don't have to take my eyes off the road while driving. I want to tell my Ipod "play Sir mix-a-lot's Bay Got Back". Including some sort of PSP would be great too.
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Robert said 4:19PM on 6-16-2005
Hi. i'm very excited by the entry of Apple into the mobile world. I'm curious how they are working directly with motorola to launch their mobile itunes solution and if this solution will work on other carrier handsets. As a games publisher for mobile games, our greatist dilemma involves alinging our software with the ever increasing variety of handsets... As more and more handsets are released each with competing technologies, developers are burdened with the difficulties of ensuring that their games work on a variety of platforms in multiple languages. In the past we have been keeping our solutions inhouse, having a team dedicated to porting each version to work with the post popular handsets. The cost however of this often has exceeded the actual cost of developing the game itself. Just for a figure it often costs 2000-3000 US Dollars for each port. Its been cuting into my cost structure tremendously. However last week while I was in Los Angeles for E3 I also attended the Next Gen conference where individuals from a variety of mobile services presented panels. One panel of particular interest was hosted by Sameer Bhatia's of Octane Technologies who analyzed and presented solutions to this mobile gaming porting dilemma. He emphasized working with specialized units that work with offshore teams to develop ports quickly, cheaply and of quality. Our firm is currently in negotation to contract out some work, and if successful, we might have found out how to finally leverage ourselves in this competitive yet lucrative mobile gaming business, bringing our quality games to a widest variety of handsets and users at a low cost. I wonder how apples will port its itunes technology onto the variety of handsets or will it limits its technology to only motorola handsets or will apple one day release their own phone... oh either way we'll have yet another phone to port our games on to...
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