Apple finally puts iTunes on a mobile phone

Way, way, way back in January 2004, I made in my annual predictions column that Apple would team up with a mobile phone maker and carrier to produce an iTunes mobile phone. After weeks of Internet blogging speculation, last week Apple, Motorola and Cingular launched the ROKR phone (pronounced "Rocker," not "Roker" like the weatherman), which lets users transfer up to 100 song files, including podcasts and audiobooks, from their iTunes application on a Mac or PC to the phone.

The ROKR with iTunes will cost $249.99 with a two-year Cingular agreement and will be sold exclusively at Cingular stores nationwide, the companies said.

The phone includes a color display for viewing album art, dual-stereo speakers and a digital camera for taking photos. The phone will come with stereo headphones that also act as the phone's headset and microphone. A special button will let users pause their music listening and answer the phone when a call comes in.

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Way, way, way back in January 2004, I made in my annual predictions column that Apple would team up with a mobile phone maker and carrier to produce an iTunes mobile phone. After weeks of Internet blogging speculation, last week Apple, Motorola and Cingular launched the ROKR phone (pronounced "Rocker," not "Roker" like the weatherman), which lets users transfer up to 100 song files, including podcasts and audiobooks, from their iTunes application on a Mac or PC to the phone.

The ROKR with iTunes will cost $249.99 with a two-year Cingular agreement and will be sold exclusively at Cingular stores nationwide, the companies said.

The phone includes a color display for viewing album art, dual-stereo speakers and a digital camera for taking photos. The phone will come with stereo headphones that also act as the phone's headset and microphone. A special button will let users pause their music listening and answer the phone when a call comes in.

Users can pick specific songs to transfer to the phone, or choose to autofill the device when plugged into the computer (similar to what you can do with an iPod Shuffle player). Songs will be transferred from the PC or Mac via USB cable, Apple says.

It was unclear whether the phone would support song files purchased through the iTunes Music Store (the DRM-protected files that you can't play on other music players), but I assume since Apple was involved with this announcement that the purchased files would be supported.

Songs will be stored on a SanDisk 512M-byte microSD card, which will be bundled with the new phone. The microSD is based on TransFlash technology, developed by SanDisk with Motorola. The SD Card Association recently adopted the TransFlash technology and renamed it microSD. SanDisk said it expects to have 1G byte microSD cards in limited quantities by the end of this year, and will have 2G-byte cards in 2006.

The Apple announcement also proves how much of a good prognosticator I am (does predicting a device almost two years before it comes out count as a psychic ability?).

Read more about wireless & mobile in Network World's Wireless & Mobile section.