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Iphone

What If Apple Made A Cell Phone And No One Cared? 352

Posted by Zonk from the ilike-the-idea dept.
PreacherTom writes "Prudential Equity Group analyst Jesse Tortora penned a note saying that Apple is readying a music phone — and a separate, combination video and music phone. He expects Apple to introduce the devices in January at Macworld, a conference for Mac enthusiasts where the company typically debuts new products. At least one of the phones will offer Wi-Fi connectivity and both will become available in the March quarter of 2007 ... but will anyone care?"
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What If Apple Made A Cell Phone And No One Cared? More

What If Apple Made A Cell Phone And No One Cared?

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  • Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:39PM (#16522899)
    Yes. People will care.

    Next?

    • Yet another doom-and-gloom Apple article (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Overly Critical Guy ( 663429 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @07:01PM (#16523895)
      Don't people get tired of writing these and being proven wrong a month later? I guess after the 90s "Apple is dead" FUD didn't work, and all the "iPod killer" FUD articles of the last 24 months didn't have an effect, so now it's time to go after the iPhone?

      Where is BusinessWeek's "Zune, yawn" article? Wouldn't that make more sense given Apple's staggering financial success announced this week and their path toward supplanting Gateway as the #3 U.S. computer maker?

    • Re:Yes. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SoupIsGoodFood_42 ( 521389 ) on Saturday October 21, 2006 @01:03AM (#16526113)

      My thoughts exactly. Perhaps there was a bit of a mixup in the submission and what they really meant to say was "What if Microsoft made an digital music player and no one cared?"

      Now, I want to see the hands-on with this Apple cellphone!

  • No Bias (Score:5, Insightful)

    by shidarin'ou ( 762483 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:39PM (#16522903) Homepage
    I detect no bias in the above submission, none.

    • Re:No Bias (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jarjarthejedi ( 996957 ) <christianpinch AT gmail DOT com> on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:43PM (#16522973) Journal
      Yeah, odd that it would be so biased...I mean I'm even interested in this, and I neither care about cell phones normally nor am an Apple fan.

      I mean, when a *cring* Windows fan who doesn't care about cell phones is interested in an article like this you have to assume that the average consumer will be interesting...*hides from linux users*

      • Re:No Bias (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20, 2006 @08:03PM (#16524395)
        It's not that it's biased. It's that it is such non-news, it's absurd. We have: "What if Apple made a cell phone?" Which already is non-news. But it doesn't stop there, it goes: "OK, say that happened. What if, then... what if nobody cared? Hmm? What then?" Man, this is not "News for Nerds". It's not even "Stuff that Matters". There is no matter to it. Come on Slashdot, this is crap. Get with the program.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Library Spoff ( 582122 )
      I was about to say "Yeah but the first five topics on the Slashdot front page are about apple... lets talk about bias!"
      Then I realised i was in the Apple section. *ahem*

    • No bias, eh? May I suggest this device [slashdot.org] if you ever choose to go into telemarketing. Or any interaction with people, really.

  • Wi-fi? (Score:5, Funny)

    by douglips ( 513461 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:40PM (#16522915) Homepage Journal
    Wi-fi. More space than a Blackberry. Still lame.
    • Wi-Fi could be awesome...if it turns out that what Apple is really releasing is a VOIP device and not a cellular phone.

      • Re:Wi-fi? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:18PM (#16523409) Journal

        Exactly what I was thinking. Apple targets the USA aggressively, to the extent that their products often feel like they just don't care about the rest of the world (don't believe me? Check the hold switch on the iPod corded remote; it's upside down everywhere except the USA). The US mobile 'phone market sucks; there is far too much network lock-in for hardware manufacturers to care about it. On the other hand, the USA has a lot of large WiFi deployments, and more are springing up all the time.

        If I were in Apple's position, I would release an iPod with 802.11/b/g/n that could download from the music store while mobile and make VoIP calls to iChat (AIM/Jabber) and iPhone users. Maybe offer a service to allow calls to POTS units, but primarily aim it at the IM generation. I suspect there is a huge market consisting of teenagers who can persuade their parents to buy a gadget, but who can't afford calls on a cell-phone as easily.

        If it could do some form of mesh networking with ZeroConf person-discovery then this could well be a killer feature (a mesh network over a campus-sized area could work nicely).

  • I don't really care about iPods, but that doesn't sound bad at all. Innovative, no - but maybe it will be competitive or slightly better than other products. Why such the negative attitude?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) *

      I don't really care about iPods, but that doesn't sound bad at all. Innovative, no - but maybe it will be competitive or slightly better than other products. Why such the negative attitude?

      Maybe someone's planning a reverse Pump-and-Dump? Predict an impending blunder for Apple, watch shares drop, buy shares, wait for Apple to roll out something as addictive to conspicuous consumers as sugar to an 8 year old and then sell when the stock price skies.

      Maybe not, maybe he's just having a bad day and his pis

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by x2A ( 858210 )
      "Why such the negative attitude?"

      You must be new here.

  • anyone want to buy a slightly used apple newton [wikipedia.org]?

  • Kevin Costner knows that answer (Score:5, Insightful)

    by From A Far Away Land ( 930780 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:41PM (#16522943) Homepage Journal
    If you build it, they will come. If it's white - shiny metal, or has a click wheel, the people will buy it for the cool-factor alone. As long as they don't break quickly, and they can fit them to play MP3s, and add maybe one or two features like a laser pointer, or built in toothbrush, the cell phone market will never be the same.

    • No not necessiarly (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 )
      It's not like Apple has discovered the one magic look that makes electronics sell. What they did was make MP3 players cool. The look played a part, the marketing played a part, the timing played a part, etc. The thing was that prior to the iPod, MP3 players were widely available but they were geek toys. Sorority girls walked around with disk/walkmen and the like if they even had a portable music player. Apple succeeded in making it fashionable to have an MP3 player, in particular an iPod.

      Other than looks (m

  • Just an Music Playing Phone (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:41PM (#16522947) Homepage Journal

    Excuse me, Mr. Analyst, but I suspect you're underestimating Apple.

    I think if Apple actually has something in that line coming out it'll surprise you. Yet another music phone isn't radical enough for Steve Jobs, battery life or whatever aside, besides, the ROKR was ho-hum which should say something about what people really want. I wouldn't be suprised to see something clever like combination unit, which merges a cell phone with an iPod, either could be used independently, probably partnering with someone like Motorola to make the phone part to spread the risk (assuming Motorola is willing to give it another shot.) Perhaps it'll also do VoIP in some clever way. Preemptively dropping Apple's shares on such speculation seems a bit rash.

    In any event, the iPod is getting on in years, celebrating it's 5th birthday, still going strong, but always needs some little tweak (like the slim and tiny nano) to keep in interesting and trendy. I agree with the analysts regarding an integrated unit with battery concerns and such, since most people do keep a separate mp3 player even when their phone will play tunes. I've got a phone which will play music, but I'd rather not be having to recharge my battery every day. The most likely place for me to listen to tunes is in the vehicle and it'll have a CD/sat. radio with USB to handle that. Taking on a commodity market would be fitting oneself for an albatross.

  • Microsoft released a portable, handheld Myspace, but did anyone care?

    Actually, according to some people, it hasn't been decided yet.

  • Yes, no one will care. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bunions ( 970377 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:41PM (#16522953)
    Apple, who produced one of the most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the last 10 years, gets ready to combine it with a phone, probably THE most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the past 10 years.

    Why would anyone care?

  • Right... (Score:5, Informative)

    by porcupine8 ( 816071 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:43PM (#16522977) Journal
    Charlie Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co., who believes the next big seller for Apple will be a Mac computer preinstalled with Windows operating software.

    Well, now that we've established that this guy knows what he's talking about...

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by ErikTheRed ( 162431 )
      Charlie Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Co., who believes the next big seller for Apple will be a Mac computer preinstalled with Windows operating software.
      Favorite quote: "Analysts - they don't know preferred stock from livestock" - Gordon Gekko [imdb.com].

    • Re:Right... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Brendtron 5000 ( 973294 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:42PM (#16523707)
      Actually, a good percentage of the Macs sold at my campus computer store are being sold with Windows pre-loaded, at the customer's request. People don't seem to mind paying the additional $120 or so for an OEM copy...

  • Snore (Score:5, Funny)

    by Quiet_Desperation ( 858215 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:43PM (#16522979)

    Jesse Tortora

    who?

  • What a ridiculous question. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by thedbp ( 443047 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:44PM (#16522983)
    The fact that a story was written about it asking if anyone would care PROVES that someone would care; otherwise we wouldn't bother reading a story about something no one cared about.

    Duh.

    Click on those ads, people. Cuz that's the only reason this story was even published.

  • I just don't see it (Score:3, Insightful)

    by stego ( 146071 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:45PM (#16523011) Homepage
    An iPod that is a phone *will* get attention.

  • What if? (Score:5, Funny)

    by euice ( 953774 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:46PM (#16523021)
    You post a story and noone cares?

  • If history is any indication (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:47PM (#16523025)
    Microsoft might. I think a smart strategy for Apple would be to rumor technology they know is a bad idea then watch Microsoft spend billions to play catch up with nonexistent products. It's kind of how Reagan collapsed the Soviet Union.

  • An idea (Score:5, Interesting)

    by merc ( 115854 ) <slashdot@upt.org> on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:49PM (#16523065) Homepage
    What would be neat is if the extended features like playing music, using cameras, etc., could all draw their power off of a separate battery than the phone. That way you could use as much of the extra features without worrying about killing the phone itself. Naturally during the "recharge" process both batteries would be rejuvinated.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znu ( 31198 )
      Probably more efficient to just put in a single, larger battery, and simply have the phone toss up a warning if you try to use the power-draining extras when the battery is under 20% or whatever.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by willy_me ( 212994 )
      A good idea, but you don't need a separate battery - just leave some power in reserve for use by the cell phone. All these devices already have battery management ICs. The user could even adjust the amount to suit their needs. This would reduce costs while increasing the flexibility of the device.

      Willy

  • Cell phone users are hopeless. Of course they'll care.

    Furthermore, you can bet that Apple will get it right where others like Sprint couldn't [joelonsoftware.com].

    Personally, I just hope you can use that iPod circular input as a rotary dial!

  • Once again... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Francisco_G ( 676828 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:49PM (#16523083)
    Analysts fail to realize the Apple puts a tremendous amount of thought into their designs. The author cites a statistic that most people with MP3 players also have music-capable phones, but doesn't mention that none of those music phones have the Scroll Wheel. That is what makes the iPod, not the iTMS, iTunes or the stylish design...the scroll wheel is the reason why the iPod is a success. The iPhone will have one as well. "Limited appeal" my ass; The author obviously doesn't understand the appeal of current Apple products, otherwise he wouldn't be questioning their move into the handset market. This is going to be an exciting year if Apple realizes the iPhone; the average iPod owner recognizes Apple's ingenious user interface and mobile phones' general lack of one.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )
      They also don't mention that most music playing phones are pieces of shit. That includes everything Nokia's ever made, and for that matter, every other music playing phone on the market today. A music playing phone with the interface and features of an iPod, even a nano, would be well-received to say the least, and given Apple's history people will pay quite a premium for them as well.
    • That interface which they stole from Creative. Very nice Apple.

  • Care? Nope (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TFloore ( 27278 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:51PM (#16523095)
    It doesn't matter how wonderful the phone is.

    If Apple lets Verizon Wireless (my CSP) or Cingular cripple it (and that's about the only way the Cellular Service Providers will sell it) then it will be just as useless as every other phone out there.

    And so, I won't care.

    Lots of phones out there that have great specs as announced by the manufactures. And then the phone is crippled in software by the cell service companies, and it's a piece of trash that no one wants. Or, you can buy the uncrippled version for $499 (still with a 2-year contract).

    I don't think even Steve Jobs could convince Verizon not to cripple a phone so that it will only accept music through the Verizon cellular data network. Because a phone that isn't so crippled won't need an over-priced data plan, and will lose Verizon profits that they are convinced they deserve.

    Sorry, no.

    Part of the joy of Apple products that the they control the entire experience. Part of that is that (with some notable exceptions) ongoing costs and hassles are minimized. I have an iPod. I love it. It works great with the iTunes Music Store. You don't *have* to use the iTMS, though. You won't have that option with a Verizon-crippled cellphone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by znu ( 31198 )
      I really don't think Apple would put up with software crippling. Whether they can talk the cell phone vendors out of it, well... they have more to offer than anyone else who's ever tried, as far as I'm aware. I mean, if your competition is basically giving away free or subsidized iPods with service contracts, and you're just giving away yet another phone, that's probably bad for you. And if Apple implements a system to sell music direct to phones, and service providers could get in on that revenue stream, w
    • Maybe they could just abandon the American market and make their phones only for Europe and Asia. Over there, everything is GSM, and phones can be easily switched between providers by switching SIM cards. Also, I believe it's customary over there to purchase your phone separately from your cellular service.

      If Apple's smart, they'll just go straight to other markets with their nifty new phone, and not even bother selling it to us stupid Americans. Leave us with our crippled and overpriced phones which onl
    • Or, you know, you could buy an unlocked phone and use it on any GSM network. Get contract, take free phone, pop out SIM, and slap it into your new device. Done. I would like to get a verizon data-only plan, though, if I could get coverage at my house in th' hills (which I almost certainly cannot.) I realize that the technology used by verizon is superior to GSM in most ways, but overall you have to ask yourself if it's really worth it - technology is only one part of the equation.

    • Re:Care? Nope (Score:4, Interesting)

      by zigziggityzoo ( 915650 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @07:18PM (#16524021)
      Why can't they just make their own network a la MVNO (like Virgin Mobile, for example)? Apple has always been about the entire experience, that's why they make/design both the software and the hardware for every other product they make.

      It would only make sense for them to provide the entire experience, by starting their own virtual network.
  • I bet people would care if they could make a cell phone at a decent price.

    Cell phones these days are absolutely locked down by high prices. If Apple could make a phone with a good design, good specs, etc, that would beat the prices on those other phones..they might have something there.

    I don't look forward to paying $200 to replace my three-year-old-phone with the exact same model because the prices are just going up.

    They're so cheap so the phone company can offer them for free, but god forbid you buy one

    • Re:I bet.. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:08PM (#16523277) Homepage Journal
      They're so cheap so the phone company can offer them for free, but god forbid you buy one with no 'deal'.

      That's not how it works.

      You (yes you!) are continually paying for phone upgrades, whether you get one or not. Those people who do not upgrade their phone on a regular basis are subsidizing those upgrades for everyone else - the amount that one pays for a service plan is computed, based on the percentage of people who will get phone upgrades, to pay for the subsidization. I'm guessing they guess a little high on that percentage so there's some money left over, and they use it to give out upgrade specials, but it's just a guess.

      Regardless, it's not that they're so cheap that the phone company can offer them for free. It's that the phone company buys pallets of them in an unconfigured mode and configures 'em themselves, then handles distribution to their stores themselves, and meanwhile is charging every subscriber on their network for all those phone upgrades. If you don't get a phone upgrade every time you can, then you're just subsidizing someone else's upgrade.

      • Re:I bet.. (Score:5, Informative)

        by Tony Hoyle ( 11698 ) <tmh@nodomain.org> on Friday October 20, 2006 @07:50PM (#16524297) Homepage
        You actually pay for your own upgrade...

        Every time you upgrade the lock you into a minimum 12 months.. sometimes 18 months. The rental over that period is usually far more than the price difference between the upgrade and the wholesale price of the phone (often more than the retail price) - so you simply pay over the next year.

        People who don't upgrade are paying for their upgrade even though they didn't get one - however they can leave for another company whenever they want, which is quite useful.

  • I can't wait. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vijayiyer ( 728590 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:52PM (#16523101)
    I've been holding off on a phone purchase in anticipation of an Apple phone. Why? Because I know they will nail the human interface and Mac integration. I wouldn't be surprised if they manage to get the phone size way down and do something clever about input as well. The Nokia Series 60 phones are pretty good and are the only other alternative for me, but we only get the E62 here in the US. If, for some reason, Apple disappoints, that will be the route I take.
    • Well, I won't be quite so fanboyish, but I'm also eagerly waiting to see what Apple delivers.

      Actually, I've been cellphoneless for six months. Somehow I survive. I can't use a cellphone when I drive, I have a phone at work so people can reach me there, I have a phone at home so people can reach me when I'm at home. If I'm somewhere else, they can leave a message and I'll get back to them at my earliest convenience.

      I figure I'd wait and see what Apple delivers before I consider getting another one. If Ap

  • Welllll... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jgarry ( 126205 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:54PM (#16523129) Homepage
    If I can wear it on my wrist and look at it to see what time it is, and the sound is as good as my JBL studio monitors, and it can keep a call going over my entire commute past mysterious giant golf balls and a VOR, and it's free with unlimited minutes and no roaming charges. I might want it.

  • Of course people will care (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ErikTheRed ( 162431 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @05:59PM (#16523173) Homepage
    Because if Apple makes it then people will actually be able to figure out how to use the stupid thing. Every non-techie person I know uses their phone for making calls and maybe as an alarm clock. Phone user interfaces are so horrible that even the more technically inclined usually have to work at making them, well, work as designed.

    With regards to people worrying about Cingular, Verizon, etc. crippling them - I would bet that Apple set themselves up as their own virtual carrier like Virgin did (leasing airtime from Cingular / T-Mobile if they want global compatibility, or from Sprint and Verizon if they want decent broadband speed - not to turn this into a GSM/CDMA flame-war). This way they can have their iTunes store on the phone as well...

    • Re:Of course people will care (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SuperMog2002 ( 702837 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:49PM (#16523781)
      I am a techie person, and I still only use my phone for calls and text messages. I can set my 11 year old Sony clock-radio much faster than navigating the crummy interface on my cell phone. Can someone please tell me why the path is menu-> settings->tools->alarm clock? It's a $300, yet the processor is too slow to get good performance on even the games it ships with, and the keys are a pain to press. On top of that, half the items on the main menu and several in various sub menus automatically launch the browser and start downloading stuff at my expense, but I can't turn off Internet access without losing my text messaging. I don't even want to poke around the UI trying to learn how to use it because I don't want to pay for accidental Internet access.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by TubeSteak ( 669689 )
        I don't even want to poke around the UI trying to learn how to use it because I don't want to pay for accidental Internet access.
        Lol, I don't meant to come off as trollish, but you must be new here.

        RTFM.

        The only thing my phone's manual didn't cover were the service codes & I looked those up on the internets.

  • Good ol' ass kickin' (Score:5, Funny)

    by lordvalrole ( 886029 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:00PM (#16523183)
    If Apple came out with a cell phone, Chuck Norris would use it to defeat terrorism at the tune of Dead Bodies Everywhere.

  • Judging from a few simple facts... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by DragonWriter ( 970822 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:18PM (#16523407)
    ...to wit, people spend $300 (and up) on video iPods, people buy third-party, licensed iTunes phones without the ability to play iTunes video content, yes, I think its quite likely that people will care about Apple-made phones with iTunes and, especially, iTunes video capability, particularly if they have the kind of data capacity that video iPods have.

    Heck, I'd replace my current SLVR for one in a heartbeat, assuming it was a good phone as well as an iPod: the SLVR is a nice phone, but the storage capacity is really limited.

  • Grains of salt (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sl3xd ( 111641 ) * on Friday October 20, 2006 @06:31PM (#16523563) Journal
    Frankly, it looks like these 'analysts' have only one common thread: Apple is making a big mistake.

    The reasons keep changing, but apparently Apple is going to be crushed by . Sell your Apple stock before it's too late!

    Considering the number of analysts who really don't get Apple, the article isn't much of a suprise.

    The article even quotes an analyst who thinks Apple's next big thing is selling an Apple computer with Windows preloaded. Here's a hint: Apple is not out to become the next Dell. Apple has their own OS, and its users generally buy Apple to get that OS.

    There have been rumors of an Apple phone (not a Motorola or other phone that uses iTunes) for years now. I have difficulty believing that the same company that changed its entire product line from PowerPC to Intel chips in just over a year would take several years to develop a telephone.

    I don't mean to discount the complexity of modern phones, of course, but Apple has wireless technology in its Airport lineup, and has embedded experience from the iPod. They have the pieces.

    Frankly, it just doesn't add up that Apple would try to enter an extremely competitive market where the margins are so thin.

    Let's look at the history of the analyst's wisdom:
    1.) Apple has to enter the mobile phone market, or it will be destroyed. (ie. smart phones will replace iPods, and Apple is going to get left behind)
    2.) Apple is readying a phone, but it'll be late to market and Apple doesn't know what it's doing.
        - Two (that I know of) phones that play iTunes are released; neither are from Apple.
    3.) Admit reality, and recognize the faults with theory #1
        - According to TFA, playing music isn't something most consumers care about in a phone.
    4.) Find a new 'mistake' for Apple: That they must still be readying the iPhone, and it will be a colossal failure.

  • Apple products come with attention builtin (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Bishop923 ( 109840 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @07:12PM (#16523971)
    The thing that the author just doesn't get is that Apple fans will buy or at least hype anything that Apple releases(I know because I'm one of them). Steve Jobs could shit in a box, Jonathan Ives will shape it into a cube, they will sell several million units and get a ton of attention. Time would have the iShit on the cover and Walt Mossberg will say that it is the ultimate in human excrement.

    This isn't like the PC market where Dell == HP == Gateway == Lenovo and you are buying purely on price or half-baked feature x. Apple has a dedicated fanbase with a common respect for clean design and seamless integration and they know that any product coming out of Cupertino will offer that as a base, plus something that is at once totaly obvious, and completely new (or at least implemented in a sane way).

    I guarantee that if Apple announces the iPhone at MacWorld 2007, there will be at least half a million people with their credit-cards out before the next slide in Steve's presentation.

  • I don't give a damn, but (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @07:31PM (#16524149) Homepage Journal
    It's good to have more choices for consumers on the market. Every new idea that Apple introduces to the market will inspire others to make more of their own and that will result in a richer marketplace and provide us with more choices.

    There weren't as many MP3 players on the market before the iPod. Apple made everyone else step up their game and add new features and reduce their prices.

    I'm not going to buy one, but thanks for giving us more choices Apple.

    LK

  • Failure in the making (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Bones3D_mac ( 324952 ) on Friday October 20, 2006 @10:02PM (#16525189)
    I personally think the article title has it about right. People don't generally care about the brand of cell phone, they care about the service plan offered with it. Why do you think most phones are constructed so poorly they're basically disposable? If the chinsy little motorola iTunes phones didn't take off, why would a phone that has a full blown iPod be received any better? Phones are almost always a utility first, and a source of entertainment last.

    If Apple really wants to enter the cell phone business, they should focus on service, rather than hardware, and open the service to compatible brands/models with the processing power to utilize whatever services they plan to offer. One possible use for an Apple-based cellular service, would be to merge ichat support into it. That way, a cell phone could contact a user with VOIP by their ichat/aim user id... or an ichat/aim user could double click on a user to automatically dial their cell phone and initiate an audio chat with that person when the call is answered.

    But if Apple goes on to use a closed system with only links to iTMS, I can't see how such a product would succeed. They'd have more luck simply giving the 6G iPod a built in wifi adapter to access itunes music store directly, when it's in range of an open network.

  • Videoconferencing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Mr Bubble ( 14652 ) on Saturday October 21, 2006 @01:13AM (#16526171)
    Phil Schiller made a comment a little while back - "we think the camera is on the wrong side of the phone". I think you are going to see some category-busting features like videoconferencing.

  • Actual data (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mattr ( 78516 ) <{mattr} {at} {telebody.com}> on Saturday October 21, 2006 @09:40AM (#16528105) Homepage Journal
    Softbank purchased Vodaphone's Japan operation and they have a hugely advertised campaign in which you get a free iPod Nano with their music capable phone. Their campaigns are all based on "+ othercompany = Softbank", i.e. tieups with other companies i.e. Sharp's AQUOS high quality flat panel television added to make a rotatable portrait display on a phone. Unknown if the price point will be enough for the U.S. but for elsewhere the answer would be not only yes but they probably already are ramping up distribution.

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