The biggest threat to the iPod is a combined mobile phone/music player. Let’s face it, if you pretty much take your cell phone everywhere, why take along another piece of hardware to play music? Read more about why Cupertino is scared of the Sony Ericsson W600…
The biggest threat to the iPod is a combined mobile phone/music player. Let’s face it, if you pretty much take your cell phone everywhere, why take along another piece of hardware to play music?
Music players like the iPod can be cumbersome and are just another thing to carry, charge, store, etc. If a mobile phone/music player hybrid (like the Sony Ericsson W600, pictured) had good speed, storage space and a decent interface (an area the iPod hasn’t exactly excelled at), it could really give the iPod a run for its money.
Apple is already working with Motorola on an iTunes mobile phone (iPhone) which recently resurfaced at the WSJ’s D conference after a few months of hiding.
TUAW 2005-0523: Ed Zander of Motorola took the stage to show off a new Motorola phone running what Walt Mossberg described as “iTunes” and which Zander says will sync with iTunes. We knew this was coming sooner or later, but here’s the cool bits: He says it’ll have a speaker loud enough so you can play your tunes from your desk, and it’ll come with a 1 megapixel camera. Zander alluded to the Motorola phone containing a hard drive, which means the possibility of many more songs than most people have thought possible with any sort of iTunes capable phone.
Apple’s announcement that they’ll partner with Nokia to make a mobile version of it’s Safari Web browser is also a telling move. Can we expect the iPod technology to appear in the next round of Nokia handsets too? I’d love to see iTunes Phone Edition (PE) running on the Nokias too.
Either way Apple and Steve Jobs know that they’ve got to do something to stem the attack from Sony Ericsson and Nokia. They’d just better do something soon if they want to protect the iPod fortress from the circling vultures.
Update:
The new Nokia 6060 supports AAC and eAAC+ audio files…
“Music fans will enjoy the built in FM radio and digital music player which supports MP3, AAC and eAAC+ files, especially when paired with the optional wireless stereo headset. Integrated Bluetooth technology also allows the Nokia 6265 to be used with a long and growing list of compatible devices, including a wide selection of wireless headsets and car kits. The Nokia 6265 supports other forms of entertainment content, including 15 frame per second streaming video and downloadable BREW 3.1 or Java 3D applications – both of which are crisply rendered on the 262K color QVGA display. (Mike Enos)
