Motorola's iTunes Phone - This Week?

[MacRumors]

Newsweek reports on Motorola's recent turnaround success with its cell-phone business. In the article, they also mention that their previously announced iTunes-compatible phone is due this Thursday:

This Thursday, Motorola is expected to announce the first handsets that will carry Apple's popular iTunes music software.

Apple originally announced the plan to license iTunes for Motorola last year. Motorola has made several announcements this year about the upcoming iTunes phone but no details or images have been released.

[Toe]

I know I saw somewhere that Motorola had publicly announced that they don't expect to release the phone until the second half of '05. No?

[~Shard~]

I'm curious to see exactly what this thing looks like and what the specs are, etc. My favorite Moto phone is still that sleek little Razr.

[wileypen]

I don't get it. Apple's not making big bucks on the songs - the money's in the ipods. So they're going to make it easy for people not to carry ipods - because everyone's got a phone. No matter how small the shuffle is (and I love mine), it's still an extra device you have to haul around. And, hey, the cell phone will probably tell you what song is playing...

[Toe]

Originally Posted by ~Shard~

I'm curious to see exactly what this thing looks like and what the specs are, etc. My favorite Moto phone is still that sleek little Razr.

I have rarely seen anyone other than mot have anything good to say about the RAZR.

Other than the form factor, of course.

[virividox]

i wonder if it will sell well. not that it will affect apple if it flops

[feakbeak]

Well, I've heard March is the mobile phone release season. I just recently got my Mac mini and I have Sprint as my carrier. I would be a very happy Sprint customer if the new iTunes-enabled Moto phones are supported by Sprint and work with iSync - preferrably via Bluetooth, but I'll take USB sync'ing. Currently, Sprints offerings with iSync-compatible phones is very limited, only two or three models, none of which I like.

Also, does anyone know are any of the rumored iTunes Moto phones flip-phones? That's my preferred form-factor.

[~Shard~]

Originally Posted by Toe

I have rarely seen anyone other than mot have anything good to say about the RAZR.

Other than the form factor, of course.

That's the only reason why it is my favorite - I've never actually used one.

[Object-X]

CNet had an article that stated the iTunes phone was the RAZR. Looking for the link... I read it just a couple days ago.

Here is the CNet link.

[jesuscandle]

Originally Posted by Object-X

CNet had an article that stated the iTunes phone was the RAZR. Looking for the link... I read it just a couple days ago.

Moto has said a couple of times that *the* "itunes phone" is the announced-on-thursday "ROKR."

Many phones are expected to get itunes support after the ROKR, but it's meant to be the flagship I think.

[~Shard~]

RAZR and ROKR, huh? Is this a new theme then for Moto?

[Applespider]

Originally Posted by Toe

I know I saw somewhere that Motorola had publicly announced that they don't expect to release the phone until the second half of '05. No?

It probably won't ship til Q3 or Q4. Phone companies usually announce new models several months ahead of the shipping time - hmmm, which other company does that remind me of?

[davey-nb]

Originally Posted by ~Shard~

RAZR and ROKR, huh? Is this a new theme then for Moto?

also join the soon to be released Pebl, created to resemble river stones, to appeal to women.

[jrv3034]

Originally Posted by wileypen

I don't get it. Apple's not making big bucks on the songs - the money's in the ipods. So they're going to make it easy for people not to carry ipods - because everyone's got a phone. No matter how small the shuffle is (and I love mine), it's still an extra device you have to haul around. And, hey, the cell phone will probably tell you what song is playing...

If you buy the iTunes Moto phone,, you'll be buying songs from iTMS, and encoding your CDs on AAC. Therefore, when you want more storage than the phone will allow, you'll HAVE to buy an iPod. I think it's a very smart move by Apple. Make the majority of digital music be AAC, and the majority will have to buy an iPod.

[iDeclare]

At the very beginning, we were lead to believe that apple was designing the phone...oh well, itunes compatible would be cool, just not sure if i would ever use it

[dotdotdot]

Release it before the summer!!

I get a cell phone before the summer!

[jesuscandle]

Originally Posted by iDeclare

At the very beginning, we were lead to believe that apple was designing the phone...oh well, itunes compatible would be cool, just not sure if i would ever use it

Apple's design involvement has never been explicitly refuted.

The post by Object-X suggests it will be simply an update to the RAZR line, but that's the first time I've seen that. Everything I've read previously suggests the ROKR will be it's own thing.

<speculation>
Based on the stuff I've read, I would guess it will be "Apple-influenced" and probably not out-and-out "Apple designed." I can all but guarantee you it will be white. And I'd guess that the scroll whell will figure prominently. I don't think it will be a full-fledged "iPhone" or even an "iPod Phone," but it seems pretty silly to introduce this without cashing in on some of the iPod cred...
</speculation>

[Lord Blackadder]

I am a complete and total cell phone n00b, but looks like I'll be getting one probably next fall. This may be it.

[MacSlut]

Originally Posted by wileypen

I don't get it. Apple's not making big bucks on the songs - the money's in the ipods. So they're going to make it easy for people not to carry ipods - because everyone's got a phone. No matter how small the shuffle is (and I love mine), it's still an extra device you have to haul around. And, hey, the cell phone will probably tell you what song is playing...

For better or worse, this is the direction Apple must go. 10 million iPods...soon to be 30 million, still doesn't compare to the number of cell phones. To put things in perspective, ringtones...yes, f'n ringtones, are already roughly a $5 billion dollar industry.

If Apple does not get on phones, others will. The service providers are just dying to use Janus to set up WMA based music services while the manufacturers are looking for ways to jack up the feature sets.

Apple *does* make money from iTMS. Back when it started, Apple stated that it only made 12 cents profit per song. Well, there are economies of scale and a decrease in the cost of things like bandwidth and equipment over time. But even at the simpler math of 10 cents per song, Apple could make as much as 100 million this year. If indies come to Apple, and revenue grows to $10 billion (which seems reasonable in 3 years or so), Apple could have music profits in the neighborhood of $1 billion a year.

Of course this also discounts other things to enhance the business, for example with HE-AAC and decreasing bandwidth costs, Apple could see the cost of delivering the music drop up to 50% per song. And of course there's the opportunity for more revenue from video content.

Apple is making all of the right moves here. If anything, this should've been an iPhone "built by Motorola"...with Apple design and Motorola/Apple distribution.

[fatfish]

I've had the ability to play tunes on my phone for 18 months and recently I have been able to put a 512Mb card in it. The point is I haven't and I don't listen to music on anything but my ipod.

Sure I've played with the feature, but it's awkward, I'm sure itunes software would make it better, but it will still be more awkward than my ipod. One of the things that make it really awkward is that the controls are geared to be used as a phone and not a music player.

I'm sure these new phone's will have thier controls geared more to listening to music, but then will it be quite as easy to use the phone as a phone, I think not and my phone is my business. I'm sure there will be a good novelty market, but it will mainly attract children and I'm not sure they buy the high price end of the phone market, but then maybe they do.

[fatfish]

Originally Posted by MacSlut

For better or worse, this is the direction Apple must go. 10 million iPods...soon to be 30 million, still doesn't compare to the number of cell phones. To put things in perspective, ringtones...yes, f'n ringtones, are already roughly a $5 billion dollar industry.

If Apple does not get on phones, others will. The service providers are just dying to use Janus to set up WMA based music services while the manufacturers are looking for ways to jack up the feature sets.

Apple *does* make money from iTMS. Back when it started, Apple stated that it only made 12 cents profit per song. Well, there are economies of scale and a decrease in the cost of things like bandwidth and equipment over time. But even at the simpler math of 10 cents per song, Apple could make as much as 100 million this year. If indies come to Apple, and revenue grows to $10 billion (which seems reasonable in 3 years or so), Apple could have music profits in the neighborhood of $1 billion a year.

Of course this also discounts other things to enhance the business, for example with HE-AAC and decreasing bandwidth costs, Apple could see the cost of delivering the music drop up to 50% per song. And of course there's the opportunity for more revenue from video content.

Apple is making all of the right moves here. If anything, this should've been an iPhone "built by Motorola"...with Apple design and Motorola/Apple distribution.

Dream on

Apple are making a tidy sum from iTMS now I would guess, but nowhere near your calculations and your predictions are also rather ambitious.
Video is a long way off.

[walkerIV]

Hopefully whatever the phone comes out it will have a design say of Apple.
Something without "tortured user interface"(tm) would be very nice. Maybe it's just me, but many a modern cellphone is a disaster from a usability stand point both in software and hardware(controls, reception).
That and a decent price he-he

[Stella]

Apple should make iTunes freely available to all phones ( that have good enough functionality, of course) and not just to Moto phones, which, generally suck.

I'd love to have iTunes for my Symbian phone, but time and time again, Apple go with Moto, definitely, NOT the leader.

[SiliconAddict]

Originally Posted by wileypen

I don't get it. Apple's not making big bucks on the songs - the money's in the ipods. So they're going to make it easy for people not to carry ipods - because everyone's got a phone. No matter how small the shuffle is (and I love mine), it's still an extra device you have to haul around. And, hey, the cell phone will probably tell you what song is playing...

Apple's first priority is the iPod. Apple's second is the codec. If AAC becomes second fiddle to WMA and WMA starts appearing in everything from cars, to toasters Apple will end up being outflanked by MS once again. This is just the first of many more strategic moves I expect from Apple. Apple stopped playing the whole we-love-being-niche the minute they dropped the Mac Mini bomb. Apple isn't about to let MS build another freaking industry up around them.

[puckhead193]

I hope that it will work with verizon, i hope it looks good like apple products