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Motorola Exec Confirms iTunes Phone is Coming

by , 7:30 PM EDT, April 20th, 2005

Motorola CEO Ed Zander confirmed that his company would be releasing the long-awaited iTunes-compatible mobile phone in a conference call with analysts Wednesday. Marketwatch reported that Mr. Zander said the phone would be coming out in the next few months. There has been some confusion over whether or not the phone would be released after Motorola canceled its planned release of the phone at the CeBIT trade show as planned in March of 2005.

At issue has been resistance from mobile phone network carriers who want a piece of the iTunes profits because the songs are being transmitted across their digital networks.

"That is where the whole problem lies," Jon Gales, president and chief correspondent for the mobile phone news site MobileTracker.net told The Mac Observer on March 10th. "Carriers have spent a ton of money building up their data networks and they want people to buy music, just like they buy ring tones, weather forecasts and news now. They don't want people to put music on their phones unless they can make some money out of it. It's just that simple."

Public confirmation from Motorola's chief exec that the phone is coming suggests that these problems may be being worked out.

Motorola has been on a come back in the cell phone industry in the last year, helped in part by the success of its high-end RAZR phone. The company has been leveraging that success during the last few quarters, releasing more stylish phones. To this date, Motorola is the only cell-phone company to whom Apple has licensed iTunes, and both companies hope it will extend their respective reach.

Motorola reported Wednesday sales of US$8.2 billion for the March quarter, and profits of $692 million, or 28 cents a share. This compares with profits of $609 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Marketwatch has additional details on Motorola's cell phone business.

Brad Gibson contributed to this story.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Subject:

Maybe if T-Mobile jumps on this, those other carriers will get their heads out of their asses. Like I want to pay $3 for a song that only plays on my cell phone. Right guys. Good luck with that.

Close Name:Stormbringer Posts: 28 Joined: 13 Apr 2005
Subject: Jonny come lately

"Carriers have spent a ton of money building up their data networks and they want people to buy music, just like they buy ring tones, weather forecasts and news now. They don't want people to put music on their phones unless they can make some money out of it. It's just that simple."

Yes and their business model should show a profit for just delivering that data. Now they want in on the iTunes raise to fame. They need to spend a ton more cash just so the signal doesn't fade or drop when I tilt my head. I can just see trying to download a song and losing the signal. Do I get to retry the download or do we get to buy the song again?

View Name:Guest
Subject: $3 for a song that only plays on the phone
Close Name:John F. Braun -   TMO Staff Posts: 232 Joined: 11 Jun 2001
Subject: Darn Phone Companies

I wish the phone companies would stop trying to squeeze every single penny from their subscribers. When I got my Motorola v710, I did quite a bit of research to make sure I could get info onto and off of the phone without having to pay Verizon. As it turns out, they didn't remove the ability to use a TransFlash (yes yet another memory card format) memory card to shuffle info around. So I can get pics off of the phone, and use my own MP3 files if I choose. These guys should just deal with the fact that there is a geeky segment of the population that just want the device to work as designed, without being crippled.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Hope Apple Doesn't Limit This Phone...
Close Name:AyaSofya Posts: 137 Joined: 11 May 2004
Subject: Interface and size

It is a bit of a hassle carrying both my cell phone and iPod so a combination of the two might be nice. However, I will need to see if the interface is easy enough to use before deciding to make the "switch".

Sometimes an all-in-one design is not the best way to go. I have a camera phone and the camera part of it is all but worthless because of the image quality. There are times I am carrying a cell phone, iPod and a digital camera.

I wonder about the physical size of the phone, I assume that it will be flash based and not hard drive.

View Name:Guest
Subject: iTunes Phone Battery Speculation Not Found On MacRumors Site
Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Subject:

I like the fact that T-Mobile does not cripple their phones. They let you put whatever you want on your phones. Since they aren't so anal, I think they are the most likely ones to accept Motorola's phone.

Of course I could care less about a fairplay enabled phone. I have an iPod. I just want a nice bluetooth 2.0 iPod that can trick my phone into thinking its a headset and then manage the calls and music while sending everything to a nice wireless stereo headset using the apple lossless codec. But I digress...

Close Name:acdc1174 Posts: 706 Joined: 16 Apr 2004
Subject:

You've thought about that one...I like.

Quote
Biff wrote:
I like the fact that T-Mobile does not cripple their phones. They let you put whatever you want on your phones. Since they aren't so anal, I think they are the most likely ones to accept Motorola's phone.

Of course I could care less about a fairplay enabled phone. I have an iPod. I just want a nice bluetooth 2.0 iPod that can trick my phone into thinking its a headset and then manage the calls and music while sending everything to a nice wireless stereo headset using the apple lossless codec. But I digress...

Close Name:allanimal Posts: 28 Joined: 18 Apr 2005
Subject: The true PAN

Quote
Biff wrote:
I just want a nice bluetooth 2.0 iPod that can trick my phone into thinking its a headset and then manage the calls and music while sending everything to a nice wireless stereo headset using the apple lossless codec. But I digress...


That's a nice wearable Personal Area Network. Of course, the RIAA will require extra restrictions to prevent someone that enters you personal space from hearing the music on your iPod. But that's a different story.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Let's see what is introduced first
View Name:Guest
Subject: Huh?
Close Name:jacrav Posts: 268 Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Subject: Did RC post twice anonymously ?

How unlike him !

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