“The Rokr hardly ranked among Apple’s best-kept secrets… Apple worked its usual software magic on the Rokr’s version of iTunes, so anyone who’s ever held an iPod will be able to use it… While the concept of a musical phone has practical appeal — I can imagine using it to listen to some choice tracks to pass those long, fallow moments at the deli counter — Motorola’s execution left me cold,” Dawn Chmielewski writes for The Mercury News.
“The Rokr looks like any standard-issue cell phone and lacks the minimalist industrial design of Motorola’s other hot products, such as the sleekly sophisticated Razr phone. Needless to say, the Rokr is similarly devoid of the cache that has made Apple’s iPods high-tech fashion accessories,” Chmielewski writes. “This inexplicable blandness will doubtless hurt the Rokr in the mobile market — especially since Cingular Wireless plans to charge $250 for it, with a two-year contract. We think only the early adopters who are can’t resist a convergence play (you know, a digital camera, music player and communications tool rolled into one) will buy it.”
Chmielewski writes, “For everyone else, I’d recommend buying a Razr and super-gluing an iPod nano on its back… The iPod nano makes even the slender Razr look chunky by comparison… The device will replace Apple’s most popular iPod, the mini. It’s this kind of clever, even daring, strategy by the folks in Cupertino — killing off their most popular model before the competitors get a chance to develop a knock-off — that has given Apple a dominant share of the digital music player market. Even while seated at the Moscone Center, we could hear the faint yet audible sounds of competitors whimpering.”
Full article here.
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That pretty much sums up today’s two major hardware announcements nicely.
Related articles:
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘iPod Nano is a hit,’ Motorola ROKR ‘simply doesn’t have enough Apple in it’ – September 07, 2005
Jupiter analyst Gartenberg: ‘the market is going to go for Apple iPod nano in a big way’ – September 07, 2005
Analyst: iPod nano ‘could be Apple’s next home run’ – September 07, 2005
Video of Steve Jobs introducing iPod nano, ROKR iTunes phone now available online – September 07, 2005
Apple’s Steve Jobs predicts ultra-thin iPod nano ‘will become the highest volume iPod in the world’ – September 07, 2005
Apple introduces iPod nano – September 07, 2005
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