iPhone

[Thank The Cheese]

There are some sites suggesting that the iPhone is not a phone at all, but a technology that will be introduced into new Macs -- ie. VoIP. I think that is more likely than an actual mobile phone for reasons MisterMe points out. It's a very messy market to get into and I don't know Apple is ready, or willing, to jump in.

Even if they were to get things rolling in the USA, what about other countries? Every county has their own mobile carriers and systems in place. It would be very difficult and expensive to penetrate the US market, let alone other countries'.

I agree with symphonix, too -- Steve Jobs hates imperfect solutions, and there are many imperfect things about mobile phones, many of which would be out of Apple's control.

I'll admit the iPhone rumors are based on more evidence than your average Mac rumor, but I'm still yet to see anything that convinces me.

[martijn.s]

Originally Posted by Thank The Cheese

There are some sites suggesting that the iPhone is not a phone at all, but a technology that will be introduced into new Macs -- ie. VoIP. I think that is more likely than an actual mobile phone for reasons MisterMe points out. It's a very messy market to get into and I don't know Apple is ready, or willing, to jump in.

and all the other hints, the domain name, the text in the iTunes resources, the patents ?

Originally Posted by Thank The Cheese

Even if they were to get things rolling in the USA, what about other countries? Every county has their own mobile carriers and systems in place. It would be very difficult and expensive to penetrate the US market, let alone other countries'.

that's simply not true, all other countries have GPS and 3G, and unlike in the US, anybody can buy any phone, carriers d'ont have a monopoly, Apple can sell it's phone thru the same channels as the iPods and Macs.

(i live in europe)

[Thank The Cheese]

I certainly hope you're right martijn. I'm just saying so far I'm not convinced. It seems like a very risky, mature market to get into.

[martijn.s]

i hope i'm right too i cant wait !

this is some of the text u can find in iTunes 7 (show package contents in contextual menu, ->content->resources->English.lproj->Localizable.strings

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Some of the games in your iTunes library, including the game “^0”, were not copied to the mobile phone “^1” because they cannot be played on this mobile phone.
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this means a phone will play iPod games in the near future (and other phones will not).
to run iPod games a phone has to be an iPod, the motorola isn't.

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Enabling the mobile phone for disk use requires manually ejecting the mobile phone before each disconnect, even when automatically updating music.
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Your mobile phone is being updated. If you quit now, your mobile phone update will be canceled. Are you sure you want to quit?
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A mobile phone can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this mobile phone with the contents of this iTunes library.
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Would you like iTunes to delete enough photos and albums from the mobile phone to make room for the songs?
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Waiting for mobile phone…
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(yes me too
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Are you sure you want to sync TV shows? All existing TV shows on the mobile phone “^1” will be replaced with TV shows from your iTunes library.
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Click More Info to visit www.info.apple.com—n301461 <http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n301461> for more information on creating videos compatible with your mobile phone.
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this last one is pretty convincing, it's an url to a page about the iPod, but the message is about a phone, so there will definitly be a phone ipod combination, and i can't imagine apple allowing anybody else to make iPods.

Apple owns the iPhone.org domain, and have applied for the iPhone trademark.

[Lt Major Burns]

they added mobile phone support when the E1 ROKR phone came out, along with iTunes 4.9. this is nothing new, and everything with the above is to do with that phone. i wouldn't get your hopes up.

[martijn.s]

no, the iPod games don't run on the motorola, and i don't think they play video, those strings are new, iTunes 6 did not have them.

read them carefully.

also, motorola has replaced iTunes by realplayer on their new mp3 phone.

and, apple bought the itunesphone.com domain august 12.