The last Motorola iTunes-enabled ROKR phone ships this month according to Engadget. New ROKRs, currently available in Hong Kong, ship with SD card support and onboard Bluetooth but no iTunes integration. The ROKR will support MP3, MPEG4, AAC+, WAV and Real Audio. RealPlayer replaces iTunes on the phone, which will still be a media player as well as a communications device. Engadget suggests it will soon be released in the US and IndiaTimes reports that the ROCKR will hit Indian markets by mid 2007.
I know, the Cingular-only bit is quite the shocker, but Think Secret has restated some previously rumored details on the iPhone, including a 3 megapixel camera, 2.2-inch display and, obviously, iSync support. The phone is also said not to be handicapped with the same 100-song glass ceiling like the ROKR and SLVR, though Think Secret's reliably anonymous sources don't have any word on what the iPhone's storage capacity will actually be.
Signs are now pointing to a January 2007 release, most likely at a newly expanded Macworld 07. Think Secret's insiders claim Apple is shooting for the stars, expecting to ship 25 million iPhones in 2007 alone. If true, this is a bit of a surprise since Motorola's incredibly popular and more widely appealing RAZR has taken over two years to sell 50 million units. Perhaps most interesting of all this rumor rehashing is Think Secret's report that Apple's exclusive Cingular contract for the iPhone only lasts into the middle of 2007 - meaning that other carriers could pick it up and finally get in on the as-yet awkward iTunes phone action.
Again, you know the drill: this is all hearsay from 'anonymous insiders,' so do what you will with it.
A reader linked us to an Apple Discussion thread where a number of users have listed problems with playing purchases from the iTS through iTunes 7 on their Motorola SLVR and ROKR iTunes phones. It seems these users can play regular music they ripped from CDs, as well as purchases made through iTunes 6 - just not songs bought through the new iTunes 7. The thread hasn't reached biblical lengths just yet, but there are enough comments on the thread that I felt it warranted a post at TUAW.
One commenter posted a link to this Apple Support doc which offers instructions for when this same problems happens to an iPod, and some of the procedures can easily be adopted for an iTunes phone (such as restoring/erasing the phone and deauthorizing, then reauthorizing iTunes). However, some users have already commented that the doc's solutions aren't fixing the issue either.
Are any readers experiencing the same hiccup? If you have any thoughts on what's going on, please share your thoughts in the comments and, if you're up to the task, drop the frustrated peeps over in Apple's Discussion thread a line too. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.
I hope no one ran out and bought a ROKR or slick new SLVR after last night's post about the ability to upgrade iTunes phones. Turns
out it was more or less a false alarm - at least for those who already have a phone with a 100 song limit. Eddie Cue,
iTunes' product manager, got in touch with Engadget to let them know that
yes, the upgrade exists, but it's only for non-U.S. iTunes phones that unfortunately had a song cap set at less than
100. Apparently, some phones were set as low as 25 songs, so this upgrade was meant to bring everyone up to the same,
yet highly limited, 100 song cap.
I have to agree with Ryan's Engadget post though:
if Apple wants to make any headway with this whole musicphone idea, that silly 100 song cap needs to go.
I can
neither confirm nor deny the legitimacy of this, but TUAW reader Jake sent us a tip with an iTMS screenshot detailing
an upcoming possibility of removing the 100 song cap on iTunes phones. From the screenshot it looks like Apple might
soon offer the ability to purchase what I would assume to be a software upgrade to remove the software-based 100 song
cap on the phone.
Jake claims to have followed a number of code snippets he found in the latest iTunes
update, version 6.0.3. Check out his post for the full
details on the steps he took, and check out the actual page in the iTMS. For now,
however, I don't know anyone with a ROKR who could take this one step further. If anyone can confirm this page in the
iTMS is real, is brave enough to plug their ROKR in and click OK, feel free to sound off. If this is true, it could be
a sign that Apple and Motorola are finally listening to the market and removing a silly limitation that should never
have existed in the first place. One can only hope.
Motorola
has unleashed the SLVR with iTunes for Cingular, a slim new candybar style phone that borrows from their runaway-hit
RAZR design. As Engadget notes, it's selling for
$199 (better than the ROKR's initial $249) with a 2-year contract, comes pre-installed with a 512 MB card and that
oh-so-loved ceiling of 100 songs. Once again, Motorola included a non-standard headphone jack, forcing buyers to use an
annoying little adapter in order to be able to plug in a regular set of headphones.
Even though the SLVR
phone itself certainly seems to be a nice upgrade from the bulky and sluggish ROKR, it still doesn't strike me as a
serious music phone offering. The many reasons and theories for this have certainly been discussed since the ROKR's introduction, so I'll spare you a rehash.
While some might be quick to bash Motorola for breaking their promise that the ROKR 2 won't
suck, just remember: this isn't technically the ROKR 2, so there's still hope. But what do you TUAW readers think
of this? Is this the killer iTunes phone you'd sell your own dog to get your hands on? Or did Motorola and Apple miss
the train again?
Being that my family
just switched to Cingular over the holidays, I've been poking around their site to see what it all can do. To my
surprise (and delight), I no longer see the ROKR in their list of available phones. Now this could just be an issue in
my zip code, but I verified with a couple friends across the US and they don't see it either. What this means, I don't
know. Coincidence? Stock shortages? Some kind of event going on soon? I'll let y'all decide on that one.
Engadget is over
at CES today / this week, so make sure you check over there for some gadget goodness. They currently have a few posts
on some gadgets that were once known as iPhones: the Motoroa SLVR with
iTunes and the ROKR E2. Check out
both posts for a slew of cool pics, and check back later with Engadget for more details on all these devices and
more.
I, for one, don't like iPhones. Give me a Razr and an iPod and keep them away from each other so they
don't cause interference, and I'm happy.
MacRumors picked up on a New York Times report that the
forthcoming ROKR E2 will be dumping iTunes in favor of a new
subscription-based iRadio service, featuring over 400 channels of commercial-free radio. So basically: instead of a
phone that can freely play all of your music, you can pay a reported $7/month for what is basically XM/Sirius in your
phone. For those of you still waiting for an iTunes-based ROKR successor, the recently-announced RAZR v3i sounds like
it won't dissappoint. In my opinion though, following up the less-than-stellar ROKR with a new version that doesn't
even support playing my music is two steps in the wrong direction.
But what do you guys think of
this? Do you want a ROKR phone with a radio-on-steriods in it, or are you already yelling "I want my iTunes
library!"
I know, the Cingular-only bit is quite the shocker, but Think Secret has 
A reader linked us to an 
I hope no one ran out and bought a ROKR or slick new SLVR after last night's post about the ability to 
Motorola
has unleashed the SLVR with iTunes for Cingular, a slim new candybar style phone that borrows from their runaway-hit
RAZR design. As Engadget 
Being that my family
just switched to Cingular over the holidays, I've been poking around their site to see what it all can do. To my
surprise (and delight), I no longer see the ROKR in their list of available phones. Now this could just be an issue in
my zip code, but I verified with a couple friends across the US and they don't see it either. What this means, I don't
know. Coincidence? Stock shortages? Some kind of event going on soon? I'll let y'all decide on that one.
Engadget is over
at CES today / this week, so make sure you check over there for some gadget goodness. They currently have a few posts
on some gadgets that were once known as iPhones: 
