TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: iPod-Like Cellphone Music Still Evolving

iPod-Like Cellphone Music Still Evolving

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Mon, 21 Mar 2005 22:01:39 -0500

Carriers' profits said to be a crucial issue

By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | March 21, 2005

With more than 8 million sold last year and a popular buzz to die for,
Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod has proven there's a big appetite for a
portable, battery-powered, Internet-connected digital device that
makes sound.

And that's drawing plenty of attention from the businesses behind
another kind of portable, battery-powered, Internet-connected digital
device that makes sound: cellphone companies.

The save-a-pocket logic of offering consumers iPod-like music
capability built into a wireless handset seems obvious. But industry
insiders warn that it could be a long wait for true iPod-rivaling
devices to hit the market -- unless they come with some clear way for
carriers like Cingular Wireless, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint PCS to
get a cut of the profits.

Sprint this month began offering a $280 Sanyo MM-5600 camera phone
with enough memory to store about one hour's worth of MP3-format
music. For another $75, Sprint subscribers can buy a 512-megabyte
memory disk for the phone that can store roughly 400 songs, a far cry
from the 5,000 that can be stored on the $300 iPod. Sprint customers
buying the Sanyo device get a cable to transfer songs from their
computer into the phone, which also comes with stereo earphones.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications is also rolling out a line of
music-playing cellphones this year that sport the Sony Walkman name,
which dates back to the original portable music players of the late
1970s.

But a more ambitious effort by phone maker Motorola Inc. has
apparently been slowed down. This month, Motorola was set to unveil at
a big industry trade show in Hanover, Germany, a phone that downloads
music from Apple's iTunes service. Trade reporters had been briefed on
the phone's capabilities just days before Motorola canceled the
announcement.

http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2005/03/21/ipod_like_cellphone_music_still_evolving/

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