The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

Choose text size: Select small text. Select medium text. Select large text.

You're viewing an article in TMO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site:
Business Week: Lots of iPod/Tunes Phones in the Works

Business Week: Lots of iPod/Tunes Phones in the Works

by , 7:30 AM EDT, June 30th, 2005

Apple Computer and Motorola intend on announcing a variety of new mobile phones with iPod/iTunes capabilities over the next year, according to a published report by Business Week magazine.

The magazine said the range of phones will include low end and high end phones available "before Christmas", and that the first phone out of the joint venture will reach the market by the end of July in the U.S. The report also gives credence to reports that U.S. cellular carrier Cingular will sell the product.

The report said all the three companies "have much to gain" from the partnership" and that the move "could help them take the pole position in a promising new market -- delivering digital music to cell phones, a device that has become the center of the digital lifestyle for millions of people around the world."

The report gives evidence that Cingular "could get a short-term exclusive right to Apple's iTunes service" and that the carrier is also "likely get a share of revenues from music downloads" by eventually unveiling a service to download directly from a cell phone. If the report is true, it would appear that the launch of the new product will not initially include the ability to download music via a wireless connection, but instead via iTunes 4.9. A report Monday gave evidence of the ability to control an 'iPod Phone' using iTunes 4.9.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Dirt Road Posts: 1239 Joined: 24 Oct 2002
Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:52 am Subject: The zillion-dollar question

Will we be able to copy songs from our Macs onto these PodPhones? I have Stinkular service now, my 2-year lock-in expires in August, and my Nokia is getting pretty beat up. If I can treat the phone like a "real" iPod, I would certainly consider re-up'ing. Otherwise, we'll probably join the march to Verizon....


 Reply | Quote
Close Name:Guest
Thu Jun 30, 2005 10:44 am Subject: iPOD/Cingular ?

Man this seems to be really exciting news,except for the fact that Stinkular (I liked that from the above qoute) might get an exclusive. That would really suck!! Just switched from Cingular to Verizon months ago and love it for lots of reasons...... I hope this is something that gets developed for all carriers


 Reply | Quote
Close Name:Guest
Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:36 am Subject:

i haven't heard anything from t-mobile on the whole thing. they're one of the largest (and after switching between at&t, verizon/nextel, cingular, t-mobile has been the best by a long shot.... in the midwest at least...) they also usually share technology with cingular, at least when it comes to phones. i hope t-mobile gets in on it, otherwise i might have to get one of them nokia phones and just sync it up to whatever windoze program it uses on my dual boot, intel powered, powerbook i'm gonna get next june...


 Reply | Quote
Close Name:Guest
Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:55 pm Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Just switched from Cingular to Verizon months ago and love it for lots of reasons...... I hope this is something that gets developed for all carriers
You love it for lots of reasons? Not using bluetooth I guess to transfer data....!? Verizon is purposely cripling their phones from standard features. Can't imagine you like that. But hey, it's your choice. By the way, I travel a lot (for work) and have Verizon via our business account. And it is a poor service. I don'tunderstand that people buy this service. Have a 'The New Cingular' personal phone, I need to use that often because of dead spots on Verizon's network. It's a general compliant by a lot of our 1000 users, so it's not just my phone (which I thought initially it was)


 Reply | Quote
Close Name:sisco Posts: 7 Joined: 12 May 2005
Fri Jul 01, 2005 3:41 pm Subject: Well first Cingular needs to have a faster network

Downloading anything is like being on a modem in 1989. BOOO! where's that 3G network???!


 Reply | Quote
Comment on this Article


Guest Posts Visible. Hide Them.
Back to top  Page 1 of 1    

You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.

Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.


Recent Headlines - Updated July 5th

Fri, 10:29 AM
News - Apple Warns of Learning Interchange Security Breach
7:30 AM
News - Happy Fourth of July!
Thu, 6:07 PM
TMO Scoop - Psystar Moves to Drop Bankruptcy Ahead of Apple Legal Battle
5:37 PM
News - Uncomfirmed Reports Say Apple & Nvidia On The Outs
4:57 PM
News - Microsoft Sick Over Barf Ad
4:09 PM
Product News - KRK Ships R6 Passive Studio Monitor for Recording
3:45 PM
John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 7/2)  Juiced, Joost and Goosed
3:12 PM
Product News - ExactScan 2 Pro Released
1:56 PM
Deal Brothers - Apple TV with 160GB Hard Drive:  $324.00 Delivered
12:46 PM
TMO Appearances - TMO Appearances Jeff Gamet Shares iPhone Apps on MacJury
10:41 AM
Product News - Art Text 2.2 Adds New Templates, Layer Options [Updated]
10:04 AM
Hot Forum Topic - Deciphering Mac Sales

The Mac Observer Reader Specials
  • __________
  • Buy Stuff, Support TMO!
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!