“Apple Computer Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a cellphone that plays music like an iPod… The phone, developed with Motorola Inc., can store up to 100 songs and has a color screen, stereo speakers, stereo headphones and a camera. It is Apple’s long-awaited foray into the wireless realm,” Duncan Martell and Sinead Carew report for Reuters. “But some said the silver phone was not stylish enough for the high expectations set by Apple’s iPod and Motorola’s slim flagship Razr phone, and others complained about its song capacity since iPod users are used to carrying thousands of songs. ‘It doesn’t have the emotive cachet that the Razr or the iPod has,’ said Yankee Group analyst John Jackson. ‘When you whip this out in the bar, nobody’s going to say, ‘That’s a cool device.””
Martell and Carew report, “Cingular does not make money off songs played on the phones, but hopes they will help boost sales and reduce customer defections to rival services. One analyst said it could become Cingular’s top-selling phone by next year. ‘If this phone is easy to use, at this price I think it will fly off the shelves,’ Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder said. ‘Cingular will reap the benefits of the combination of Motorola and Apple’s brands.’ The phone does not allow for wireless downloads, but it does eliminate the need for carrying two separate gadgets.”
Full article here.
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