“With the help of Motorola, Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs finally made good last week on his pledge to deliver a cellular phone that plays music like an iPod, Apple’s wildly successful digital music player,” Reuters reports. “Even so, many expect Apple to go further. Ultimately, Apple may introduce its own cell phone-iPod combination, dubbed the ‘iPhone,’ designed by Apple itself from the ground up and which would most likely be made by a contract electronics manufacturer such as Flextronics.”

“If Apple were to design its own phone and partner with a contract electronics manufacturer, which it could then sell to its own network of retail stores, it would need to set up what is known as a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO,” Reuters reports. “An MVNO such as Virgin Mobile USA typically does not have its own network. It purchases minutes from traditional carriers and resells them to its own customers… Apple said last week that it retained flexibility in the deal it struck with Motorola. As it tests the market for music on mobile phones, Apple is free to work with other handset makers and cellular providers, said Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marketing. ‘We have flexibility to do many things,’ Schiller said.”

Reuters reports, “But perhaps the most titillating indication of Apple’s intentions is a Web site, iPhone.org. A visit to that Web site brings a visitor to Apple’s own home page, and the site itself is registered to Apple.”

Full article here.

Mark Gilbert writes for Bloomberg News, “The world doesn’t want an iPhone made by Motorola Inc., any more than it wanted an iPod sporting Hewlett-Packard Co.’s logo. The world wants Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs to don his black turtleneck and prance around a stage in California waving a bona fide Apple iPhone encased in white plastic, preferably featuring the intuitive software and click-wheel hardware interfaces that helped make the iPod such a hit. ‘We question Apple’s motive to partner with Motorola,’ wrote Mike Walkley, the senior wireless technologies analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co. in Minneapolis, in a note to clients last month. ‘f the long-term threat to iPods is a cell phone/MP3 player combo, Apple should make its own iPhone, turning the threat into an opportunity.’”

Full article here.
Again, Apple should make their own Apple-designed, Apple-branded mobile phone. A phone that the iPod nano would simply slip in and out of at the user’s whim. Or a phone that would slip on and off your iPod nano. Either way, the Apple “iPhone” would be a phone that becomes musical with the addition of your iPod. There’d be no cannibalization if Apple approached the design in this way.

Related articles:
If Apple isn’t working on their own iPhone, they’re making a stupid mistake – September 12, 2005
Music phones pose no threat to Apple iPod – September 09, 2005
Does Apple need a mobile phone of its own design? – September 09, 2005
USA Today: Motorola ROKR iTunes mobile phone provides ‘snazzy’ first impression – September 08, 2005
NYT’s Pogue: Motorola ROKR iTunes phone ‘great-sounding, reasonably priced and a lot of fun’ – September 08, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
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Apple announces Motorola ROKR iTunes phone, Cingular partnership, iTunes 5 – September 07, 2005
Apple, Motorola & Cingular debut world’s first iTunes mobile phone – September 07, 2005
Motorola ROKR Apple iTunes mobile phone availability dates for Europe, North America, and Asia – September 07, 2005
Forbes: Apple Computer planning to become a phone company? – July 08, 2005