“Apple Computer and Motorola could soon show us the mobile phone they are developing to play music purchased from Apple’s iTunes online music store. ‘We’ve said we have something coming on this in the first half of 2005 and we’re definitely on schedule for that. Hopefully you’ll be able to see more about it soon,’ says Eddy Cue, vice president in charge of applications at Apple,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for Forbes.
“If the phone is as far along as Cue suggests, then Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs would be likely to announce it during his annual keynote speech at MacWorld Expo, scheduled for Jan. 11, 2005 in San Francisco,” Hesseldahl reports. “‘What we’ve talked about is a something that is valuable for the mass market,’ Cue says. ‘It has to be a phone in the middle-tier of the market, not a $500-tier phone. It has to be very seamless to use. And we’re very happy with the results.'”
“The direct PC connection would likely bypass wireless data networks owned by large wireless carriers such as Verizon Wireless… Cingular Wireless… and SBC Communications. Consumers wouldn’t be required to pay network fees to download music,” Hesseldahl reports. “That fact has raised concerns among some industry observers that carriers, eager to convince consumers to boost their usage of expensive data networks, might object to phones that don’t need a network connection to download music. Those carriers, who are generally very picky about the phones they sell in their retail stores and what features they support, can easily veto a feature they don’t like.”
Full article here.