“Because Apple already has a deal in place with Cingular, Apple’s iTunes phone will sail on the same favorable waters as Motorola’s. Except Motorola will be nowhere in the picture, relegated to its long-term role of cranking out mediocre iTunes phones that can’t hold a candle to Apple’s iTunes phone. Steve will have cut out the middle man and gotten a bit of revenge on his old chip supplying nemesis in the process. And the deal he’ll have in place with Cingular will be one that he never in a million years could have scored if he’d walked in out of the cold and asked for it from day one,” Bill Palmer writes for iPod Garage.
“Sound complicated? I think so,” Palmer writes. “But whether the above is actually an accurate portrait of what really happened or merely a rough sketch, the end result is that Apple now has both Motorola and Cingular playing the role of lapdog, taking on most of the risk while Apple gets most of the reward…and the rest of the cell phone industry is just scratching its head and wondering when or even if they should try to launch a competing product. In short, Steve Jobs walked into the cell phone industry empty-handed and within a year managed to snooker ’em all.”
Full article, highly recommended, here.
Related articles:
Apple iPod division head: iPod and mobile phones best left separate – September 27, 2005
If Apple isn’t working on their own iPhone, they’re making a stupid mistake – September 12, 2005
Does Apple need a mobile phone of its own design? – September 09, 2005
Motorola CEO Zander: Apple to build a smart phone, it’s only a matter of time – September 29, 2005
Motorola says ‘screw nano’ comment was joke – September 26, 2005
Motorola CEO Ed Zander on Apple iPod nano: ‘Screw the nano’ – September 26, 2005
Fortune’s Lewis: Apple iTunes software the only cute thing about Motorola’s ROKR mobile phone – September 21, 2005
Consumer Reports: Apple’s iPod nano ‘sizzles,’ Motorola ROKR mobile phone ‘fizzles’ – September 21, 2005
BBC: Motorola ROKR iTunes mobile phone design ‘feels like yesterday’s phone by UK standards’ – September 17, 2005
Hands on review of Motorola ROKR Apple iTunes mobile phone – September 12, 2005
Motorola ROKR iTunes-enabled mobile phone greeted with cool response – September 12, 2005
Music phones pose no threat to Apple iPod – 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
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘iPod Nano is a hit,’ Motorola ROKR ‘simply doesn’t have enough Apple in it’ – 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