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Which model do you think it will be...

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Judging by the poll results, I know that many people are waiting on pins and needles to learn what Apple and Motorola have in store for us.

Well, it turns out to be quite disappointing. Motorola has indefinitely postponed the launch of its iTunes phone following a last-minute message from wireless carriers late last night.

Not good news for Apple but perhaps this will force them to take on the mobile phone venture exclusively with Apple hardware and become their own service provider. Maybe starting with VoIP tied together with .Mac on an Apple phone.

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OK, now to continue writing in my own personal diary...

I guess there is one more small chance of Motorola introducing an iTunes-capable phone, dubbed the ROKR, at the Miami Music Multimedia conference in Miami, FL on the 23rd of March. At this point though, I don't hold much hope. This is the third time they have delayed the announcement. I guess they are really getting beat up by the carriers.

The more I think about it, the more I think this presents an opportunity and "a time" for Apple to introduce their own communication based device (in whatever form that might be in).

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Whichever phone it is:

"the telcos do not like iTunes phone debut party because they are in no mood to celebrate another feature that doesn't drive up network revenue. 'This is a manifestation of conflict we'll see more and more as the phone takes on additional functionality,' says Yankee Group analyst John Jackson. "'It's a losing game for the carriers,' says Snyder. The iPod and MP3 crowd uses PCs to download music, and they won't be inclined to pay the phone company for tunes they already own, says Snyder. 'The carriers hate that answer because it means they don't get any part of the multimedia phone pie, just as they haven't gotten squat with imaging,' says Snyder. The Motorola rep said the company continues to working with its carrier customers, and industry observers say they expect Motorola's iTunes phone to be available to customers as early as this summer."

- cut from the web.

So if the phone is going to see the light of day, it sounds like Apple will have to give it the ability to download songs from the iTMS directly to the phone.

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Well, it's the 24th of March now and Motorola did not announce any new iTunes phone at the Miami Music Multimedia conference.

They did announce THIS music phone however:

http://www.mobiletracker.net/archive...n-closed-2.jpg

http://www.mobiletracker.net/archive.../e725-side.jpg

http://www.mobiletracker.net/archive.../e725-back.jpg

• EV-DO high-speed data

• 41MB internal memory plus MiniSD card slot for up to 1GB extra storage for media files

• Built in FM transmitter to send music to car or home stereo systems

• Standard 3.5mm mini jack for wide audio compatibility

• Stereo speakers

• Scroll wheel and cool slide style design

AND a way cool antenna.

You can follow this link to see more at Mobile Tracker.

It isn't looking good for the iTMS phone. BusinessWeek has article about the carriers ridiculous demands and the trouble they are posing for the introduction of such a phone.

I'll say it again. I think the carriers are going to push Apple into doing their own phone if they won't subsidize.

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Part of the iPods success stems from the ability to carry your entire home directory (on Microsoft Windows you need an app called Migo in conjunction with the iPod). You can hold your personal settings, desktop, music, picture files, documents... you name it. Anyway, you can transfer this folder to your iPod for home computing on the go.

Obviously, the entire tech industry is standing up to take notice of the iPod phenomenon. Companies like Epson have digital photo viewers with a hard drive to store and view camera photos on the go. Samsung is incorporating a miniature hard drive in one of their phones so you can carry your photos, music and data on the go. These mini hard drives are everywhere.

Remember this slide show image?

http://homepage.mac.com/ronstoneygol...es/roadmap.jpg

It was from the same slide presentation that had every single spec. of the Treo 650 and the T5 nailed. Well, in both of the gray boxes above, they talk about companion devices to the phone. This companion device would be their answer to the iPod. It would carry a mini hard drive, maybe have Bluetooth for connectivity to the phone and probably have that Wi-Fi that Palm has promised Treo users. Isn't there a rumored iLife Drive or something coming from Palm in a couple of weeks? All while soaking us for another $250. Their brilliant.

Well, now Apple has their patented Sudden Motion Sensor they are now incorporating to help protect your data. It senses change in axis position and accelerated movement. In the event of a drop or fall, the hard drive heads are parked so they won’t scratch the disks on impact.

This is a technology that would fit well with the iPod and possibly even a phone. Something that will insure Apple's lead in the miniture HD market. Possibly even their entry into the phone market.

I say this because there are a lot of factors coming together recently that will force Apple into protecting, while proliferating, their iPod technology and brand name by bringing it into the phone arena. Factors like Palm entering the iPod like market, or carriers blocking the entry of an an iTunes based phone from the Apple-Motorola partnership, the proliferation of digital photo storage devices and even seeing Samsung enter the HD frey and imposing on Apple's territory.

So while Palm seems focused on making things continually more difficult and convoluted... AND expensive, Apple on the other hand is moving in the exact oppisate direction. They are focused on making things intuitive, easy to use and affordable.

Two years ago, heck, even 6 months ago, I would have said, "no way will Apple make a phone". Things are a little different now.

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Well, it's happening!

Apple just entered into a contract with Alphamosaic, in Cambridge, UK. Alphamosaic is actually owned by Broadcom.

Broadcom says the chip uses very small amounts of battery power and "excels in high-quality 3D graphics performance with the capability to support pixel shading and volumetric lighting with low power consumption, making it ideal for use in mobile gaming applications and comparable in performance to home consoles."

Plus it can be integrated with cell phone chips from Broadcom.

The chip, being gcalled the VC02, can display video on 3.5 inch color LCDs and capture 8 megapixel images, making it ideal for watching TV, making videos or taking studio-quality photos on a cellphone.

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Nope, sure not looking good for the Apple & Motorola partnership.

Shazam announced they have completed a deal with Motorola to include their music recognition software on select Motorola phones. Shazam and Motorola have worked together to create an application for phones to recognize songs just by playing them into the phone with the application running. Once the song is matched to Shazam's database, users can get information on it and buy the track, album or a ringtone. This doesn't leave much room for Apple's iTunes Music Store, does it?

Mounting evidence that Apple will have to go it alone. Remember, you heard it here first.

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Apple's new iChatAV now has full-duplex audio, audio conference support for up to ten particpants, one-on-one video conferencing, and a very classy-looking three-way video chat that uses OpenGL to tilt participants’ video images inward, as if you’re all on video screens in the same room.

A nice addition to every Mac user's telephony capabilities.

I'm just saying...

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Hey, you know how small the Apple Airport Express is? Yeah, you could fit it's contents into something about the size of a phone. I wonder...

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OK, to quickly recap...

Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint, are planning on rolling out their own music download services later this year and want to charge $2 to $3 a song.

OK, whatever. What kinda of idiots do you take your subscribers for? Anyway...

Apple; on the other hand, does not favor direct purchases through these greedy middlemen over a cell phone provider's network. They can see how absurd the $3.00 charge per song is.

Unfettered by the dismal outlook, Apple marches on with what is now known as iTunes Mobile 1.0. Motorola will be trying to show off the finished product of this joint effort to potential customers over the coming months. That begs the question, "Who are these potential customers?"

I am at a loss.

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http://www.mobilemag.com/content/images/3963_super.jpg

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I'm not sure how many more "Just a couple more months" people can take when Motorola mentions the iTunes compatible phone that was to be released about 7 months ago. Even I have had my doubts of the phone ever seeing the light of day. I am told it was even cancelled at one point.

BUT NOW, Cingular has a 4-day clearance sale on their Motorola phones and Apple has a press release coming up around the 4th of July, or maybe even on that very day. Pictures like these are showing up everywhere:

http://www.macdailynews.com/gfx/arti...unes_phone.jpg

This is presumed to be the Motorola ROKR.

On top of all that, weird images are showing up in the latest release of Apples iTunes like the one I have attached here.

Yup! Thats a Motorola RAZR in that Podcast icon.

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No new announcements, from T-Mobile, Cingular, Apple OR MOTOROLA. I think this is attempt number 5. I guess it will be just a "couple more months" before we see this new Motorola/Apple music phone.

How many times are they going to cry wolf?

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My local mac store, which is independently owned, says that the phone problablely won't happen until the end of the year if it happens at all. Mac wants itune to be the exclusive music player for that phone/carrier and now they're running into problems. As far as the pictures that everyone is seeing on the net, They're for the most part false. No one knows exactly what the phone will look like or who the maker will be now. Leave it to Jobs to keep us all in a state of darkness. I do think and agree that this would be the perfect time for mac to release their own hard drive based smart/PDA phone and take the market by storm. Can anyone say Newton. When it all comes down to it though, we'll just was to wait and see.

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I do think and agree that this would be the perfect time for mac to release their own hard drive based smart/PDA phone and take the market by storm. Can anyone say Newton. When it all comes down to it though, we'll just was to wait and see.

Yeah, me too. I have heard two whispers that only amounts to a rumor at this point, that the satellite picture I posted up above in this thread will be giving the Apple Corporation a slice of its service for just such a thing. Actually I think, if I remember corectly, it was to be for just general content delivery, which could be broadcasts, video rental purchases, data delivery or even communication services. But this is very much a rumor. A rumor with a picture.

Disney is now providing their own mobile services so this isn't something that is completely out of the question. It is do-able

Let's not forget, technically you can actually use iTunes right now to sync a couple current Motorola phones. There just hasn't been an announcement of any new specific hardware dubbed the "iTunes phone".