CHICAGO – Motorola Inc.’s much ballyhooed iTunes phone – the product of a unique partnership with Apple Computer – will finally be unveiled next week.
Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola, Apple and wireless carrier Cingular plan a joint iTunes unveiling next week, said Roger Entner, a wireless industry analyst at market researcher Ovum.
Another source close to the two companies confirmed that the phone will be introduced at an Apple media event in San Francisco Sept. 7.
Cingular would sell the phone, said Entner, who said he got his information from sources at the companies. The phone will be able to connect to a personal computer and take music from Apple’s popular iTunes program, but there is an expectation that users eventually will be able to download music directly onto the handset via a wireless network. Whether that capacity is incorporated from the launch date isn’t known.
No comment
Motorola declined to comment, though the company’s chief executive, Ed Zander, said last month the iTunes phone would be out by Sept. 30. Cingular also declined to comment. Apple couldn’t be reached for comment, but typically doesn’t comment on such matters.
Rumored launch dates have come and gone since the phone was announced over a year ago, with the buzz growing as the waiting has gone on.
Why all the hype over a telephone? The answer lies in the huge success of Apple’s iPod music player coupled with the surging power of the Apple and Motorola brands.
The iTunes phone is one of several music initiatives by major wireless phone makers, including Nokia and Sony Ericsson. The first Motorola iTunes-enabled phones – there will likely be several – will have the capacity to hold at least 120 songs via internal or external storage cards.
The iTunes phone was announced last summer, and was expected to be formally unveiled in March. Motorola went so far as to send embargoed pictures of the phone to the media. Called the E790, it was a sleek candy bar model with a display screen akin to the iPod.
But Motorola canceled the unveiling at the last second, a postponement alternately attributed to Apple and wireless carriers.
Fuss starts with iPod
Since then, phone enthusiast Web sites – and there are plenty of them – have been chockfull of rumors about the product’s launch, including posting pictures of the E790 and another purported iTunes model, often dubbed “ROKR.”
All the fuss starts with Apple’s iPod, which dominates the MP3 player market.
During Apple’s most recent quarter, the company shipped 6.2 million of the devices, a 616 percent increase over the same time a year ago.
Meanwhile, the sole source of online music for the iPod – the iTunes music store – has become the dominant digital music retailer.
“The iPod has this iconic following and it has really affected how people use online music, and now it’s coming to the phone,” said Entner.
The device has re-energized Apple’s brand. Meanwhile, the Motorola brand has been burnished over the past year by the runaway success of its ultrathin Razr phone.
The iTunes phone “is the coming together of two really strong brands in a product that should have wide consumer appeal,” said Hugues de la Vergne, a wireless industry analyst at market researcher Gartner Inc.
So who then will take the lead in marketing it?
De la Vergne said that typically, wireless carriers lead in marketing any phone, though manufacturers like Motorola also run their own ad campaigns.
David Linsalata, an analyst at market research firm IDC, said the marketing of the iTunes phone should resemble the Razr’s marketing. Cingular heavily promoted the Razr as an exclusive product. But Motorola also ran its own extensive Razr campaign.
Apple will also have a role in promoting the iTunes phone, analysts said. “For a truly halo product like this, you will see involvement from all participants,” de la Vergne said.
But Linsalata noted that the iTunes phone – unlike the iPod – is less of an Apple product, “so I’m not sure how much marketing they will put behind it.”
Would Apple sell the iTunes phone through its stores, which specialize in Apple products? That would be a “pretty big leap,” Linsalata said.
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AP-NY-08-30-05 1942EDT
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