BusinessWeek's Salkever Says Apple-Moto Deal Good For iPod

< I>BusinessWeekis Alex Salkever has weighed in on the Apple Motorola deal announced last week. That deal puts Appleis iTunes, including FairPlay, on Motorola phones, and Mr. Salkever says that this is good for Apple and the iPod platform. This column comes in response to some who have wondered whether or not it would lead to cannibalization of iPod sales. From BusinessWeek:

With cell phones looking and performing more and more like mini-computers, thanks to soaring amounts of memory and enhanced video and e-mail capabilities, Apple fans and analysts are wondering if Jobs isnit letting a fox into the iPod henhouse. They fear the deal could cannibalize the $1 billion or more in annual iPod sales in exchange for less-profitable digital-music sales and customer growth of dubious value. At the July 26 press conference to announce the pact, Jobs stated -- via video cam -- that this wouldnit happen. And heis right. Whatis more, the potential benefits of this deal easily outweigh possible downsides.

Mr. Salkever goes into detail on what he thinks those benefits are in the full column, which we recommend as a good analysis.