In a move which is sure to irk the famously secretive folks at One Infinite Loop, Ovum analyst Roger Entner has been quoted by Reuters and other news services as saying Cingular will be selling Motorola’s iTunes-enabled cell phone, with a joint announcement expected this week.
Apple yesterday invited selected press and others via email to a “special event” at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, tagged with the phrase “1000 songs in your pocket changed everything. Here we go again.” Neither Apple nor Cingular have confirmed Entner’s statement; Motorola has only stated that it still plans to begin selling its iTunes-enabled phone, apparently to be dubbed the “ROKR” during the third quarter of 2005.
If true, Cingular would become the first mobile phone provider to offer an iTunes-compatible product. Music download services for mobile phones are expected to experience substantial growth during the next few years as consumers to increase spending via mobile devices for non-talking activities, including games, music, video, and information services. However, early efforts at music-enabled phones have failed to generate significant buzz, as music aficionados so far prefer the interfaces and capabilities of dedicated portable music players like Apple’s iPod. However, if any mobile phone music product can catch on with music fans, it might be something from Apple: when Apple and Motorola announced plans for an iTunes phone over a year ago, Apple was lined up to design the iTunes mobile player application which Motorola would embed in its mass market cell phones.
Photo Courtesy of Phonescoop
