“It seemed like a sure thing: the iPod mobile phone. What could be more irresistible than a device combining the digital-music prowess of Apple Computer with the wireless expertise of Motorola? Motorola sent its buzz machinery into overdrive in January when it leaked word that the product would debut at a cellular-industry conference in New Orleans in mid-March,” Roger O. Crockett writes for BusinessWeek. “Well, hold the phone. At the New Orleans confab, a frustrated Edward Zander, Motorola’s chief executive, stood before a roomful of analysts and reporters and said the handset’s debut would have to wait.”
“Why? Zander said Motorola and Apple want to hold off until the phone is closer to hitting store shelves. But three industry sources say a lack of support from such giant cellular operators as Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless was instrumental in delaying the unveiling. So far, the wireless companies are reluctant to promote the Motorola-Apple phone,” Crockett writes. “Behind the clash are two very different views of the future of music on mobile phones. Motorola and Apple would let customers put any digital tune they already own on their phones for free. That would help Motorola sell more phones, and it would help Apple expand its dominance of digital music. Verizon, Cingular, and other wireless operators want customers to pay to put music on phones.”
“One insider says that even if Cingular and Verizon, the two largest wireless players, won’t sell the Motorola-Apple phone, smaller rivals, such as T-Mobile, may peddle it to gain ground on the industry leaders. Motorola says it’s working out ways for carriers to profit from digital music, and it expects to launch the phone with that support this summer. Motorola and Apple could also bypass carriers altogether and sell the phone via retail stores or their own Web sites,” Crockett writes. “Trouble is, that would mean no carrier subsidy on the handsets. So customers would have to foot the music phone’s entire bill, expected to be around $500. “Who wants the $500 iPod phone when you could buy a phone and an iPod for that much?” says analyst Tole Hart of researcher Gartner. A sure thing? The iPod phone now looks anything but.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The saga continues, unfortunately.
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