“It’s perhaps the most hyped consumer electronics product today, and it might not even exist: Apple’s music phone. Nobody seems to have seen it, at least nobody who’s talking. Nobody quite knows what it will look like or how it will work. No one even knows what it will be called,” Troy Wolverton and Sarah Jane Tribble report for The San Jose Mercury News.
Wolverton and Tribble report, “But just about everyone — consumers, analysts and investors — is convinced that Apple’s working on a music phone. And many are betting that the Cupertino company is going to unveil it at the Macworld conference in San Francisco next month.”
“The tremendous amount of buzz about a product that Apple has yet to announce speaks volumes about the company’s marketing prowess, of course, not to mention its penchant for secrecy. But it also could be a strong indicator of what the product could mean for the company and for the mobile phone industry. ‘People view Apple as having the potential to create a market disruption,’ said Chris Crotty, an analyst with research firm iSuppli,” Wolverton and Tribble report.
“Even if Apple captured only 1 percent of that market, that would translate into 10 million “iPhones” — and potentially billions of dollars in new revenue,” Wolverton and Tribble report. “And some in and around the industry worry that Apple could take a larger share of the market.”
“‘I know if I buy a phone that says ‘iPhone’ that it’s going to work well with iTunes and it’s going to play music,’ said Phil Leigh, president of consulting firm Inside Digital Media. ‘Right now there are probably a dozen phones that hold music, and I don’t know which online sites they work with,'” Wolverton and Tribble report.
Wolverton and Tribble report, “The buzz around Apple’s possible phone indicates that people are not satisfied with the options on the market, said Michael Gartenberg, wireless analyst with Jupiter Research. ‘The other handset vendors should all take note that no one is talking about their products with the same level of enthusiasm,’ Gartenberg said.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Analyst describes Apple ‘iPhone’ featuring metal case in multiple colors with virtual click-wheel – December 14, 2006
UBS analyst: Apple may launch MVNO, serve as own carrier for ‘iPhone’ – December 13, 2006
Apple using ‘iPhone’ as diversion? – December 11, 2006
Apple’s ‘iPhone’ silence drives rumor mill crazy – December 08, 2006
BusinessWeek: Wish List for Apple ‘iPhone’ – December 08, 2006
Apple ‘iPhone’ could cause Nokia, Palm, Motorola, and RIM to really start to sweat – December 07, 2006
Apple shares fall as CIBC sees ‘iPhone’ release delayed – December 07, 2006
Analyst expects 16GB flash-based Apple iPod video player, 4-8GB flash-based ‘iPhone’ models – December 07, 2006
Prudential: Apple ‘iPhone’ to sport iPod click wheel; video iPod by Q2 – December 06, 2006
RUMOR: Apple’s smart phone project to feature ‘extensive integration with Mac OS X’ – December 05, 2006
Apple begins ‘iPhone’ production – December 05, 2006
Apple needs to think different about data security for ‘iPhone’ – December 05, 2006
Kevin Rose: Dual-battery Apple ‘iPhone’ coming in January; $249 for 4GB, $449 for 8GB – December 03, 2006