Another sign that Apple and Motorola are working on a cellphone?

Not that this is really gonna convince anyone that Apple is really working on a cellphone, but Tony Ricciardi from TreoMac relates this story which jibes with what we'd heard from one of our sources told us last week, namely that Apple has been showing off a cellphone prototype to potential partners:

I was on a train this weekend, watching an episode of the Simpsons on my Treo 600. The gentleman sitting across from me asked me how I liked the phone. I told him I loved it and we began a tech conversation. He mentioned that he worked for Motorola. I told him I was a Macintosh consultant, and then he dropped the bomb! "I've got a scoop for you", he teased.

Apparently some of his associates had been telling him earlier in the week about an Apple branded phone that had been circulating around the office at Motorola. The phone had Motorola components, but most certainly had Apple brandings on it. He said that he did not have a chance to handle the phone, but that his direct supervisor did. The phone was "sleek and sexy" in her words. He mentioned that there was talk amongst the people who had seen it that iTunes and iPhoto would factor into this device somehow. They also said that the phone had a slot on the top (media slot?) as well as what looked to be a USB 2.0 port on the bottom.

Anyway, like we said before, we're fairly confident that Apple has at least been showing off a prototype for a cellphone, we just don't know whether they'll actually ever come out with one or not. Definitely sounds like they're exploring their options, though. We'd kill for some spy pics.

[crawford @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'll buy that. Five minutes after it's released. Unless, that is, it has Motorola's godawful phone book.

[Graeme @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

It makes sense for Apple to do a phone, as feature phones with gb storage will most likely be what eventually kills the iPod. I'm just not sure that I see them doing it with Motorola. A Sony Ericsson employee on one of the Apple rumor forums claimed to have seen a prototype SE / Apple iPhone that was killed off just short of going to production. (Although apparently the styling was similar to the later SE T-series phones.)

[Funtime Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

There is also a rumor that these poppycock renderings of a new flash based iPod are bogus and in fact the real flash based MP3 player from Apple will be this phone. Makes sense to me.

[Chip Mason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Try this: type www.iphone.org....surprise!

[kainjow @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Try this: type www.newton.com....surprise? No.

[George @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

USB 2.0? I'm taking this whole thing with a grain of salt but if this is real, I'm sure someone got Firewire and USB 2.0 confused.

Unless Apple saw how many iPod sales they could do when they released it with a PC-friendly connector...

[silence @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

though usb port is the default for motorola, I can barely see a usb-only device made by apple.

and why would a normal phone (not a smartphone -- but that's a question) need a media slot on the top?..

[Mr X @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

You mean you want to see a spy photo like this one....

http://www.shampoopoo.com/pictures/iphone.jpg

Enjoy!

[Ian @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Oh my God. Why Apple, why did't you release that iPhone with SE???
WHY????

[Starluck @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

could this be it?

http://www.shampoopoo.com/pictures/iphone.jpg

[Kevin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

actually, if you zoom in, it mentions sony ericsson, not mot

[Matt Arevalo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Not to mention it looks like a SE T618..

[David Stripinis @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Also, it says the iPod has bluetooth ( the iPhone ad spy photo )

[Justin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

that iPhone is fake guys, that was yeeeeeears ago.

[Gar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Should we not buy any other new cell phones till we find out or do we spend our money on shipping products now? If Apple was to actually let it out that there is a iPodCell it would be year till it was a reality. From now at least. Unless this is a best kept secret from Apple and they roll it out bang. I think I will go the direction of the author for now - Treo650 - .

[CSM @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

More scoop on the fictitious iPhone - http://www.ppcw.net/?itemid=1940

[Jeremy Holloway @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'd love to have an Apple branded iPhone IF the product was a flip phone. I'm tired of the Nokia/Sony Ericsson form factor that leads to the screen being scratched up, and I'm ready to move on from my T616. If this rumor is true and it offers an SD slot, I predict it would wipe out the Motorola Razr at the same price point. Come to think of it, Apple should also bring out Apple branded Firewire PCI cards to capture some extra revenue from the so-called "iPod economy." Why they leave those ancillary (sic) profits to Belkin I will never understand.

[noel vasquez @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

great if/when the phone comes out, but who'll carry it?
at&t? t-mobile? cingular? verizon? sprint?

[Robert Boylin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Actually, Motorola makes sense. The chip architecture and their spinoff could play a role in Apple's future portable lifestyle devices.

As WiMax becomes deployed VoIP along with Apple branded internet services could become a major revenue source to confirm's Apples boast of becoming one of the top 10 internet companies in the future. The WiFi phone could be a powerful device well beyond current cell phones. Imagine an iSight camera built in for video conferencing.

[Gar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

'IF' Apple does release this device - you know all the cell carriers will have it since the iPod name will be attached to it. Had it been way more powerful and the Newton name on it no one would have touched it.

[chuck @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

" you know all the cell carriers will have it since the iPod name will be attached to it." not if they only make a gsm model. :-)

[Julius @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

That iphone ad is fake if only because it is using Garamond - it's all Myriad in their advertising now.

[ravi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Well, as the iPod OS gets more sophisticated (it is Mach based like Mac OS X and it has just gone colour), it would be awfully nice to have iPod OS operating a phone.

I mean I would love to have a phone as easy to navigate and operate as my iPod.

So given that Motorola phones have crappy OS (IMHO Nokia phones have the best OS - Symbian), it would be fitting that Motorola phones are next year outfitted with an advanced iPod OS (with iTunes and iPhoto, AddressBook, etc).

Another Motorola plus is that their phone navigator is a "click-wheel" look-a-like. A Motorola Razor phone with a click wheel and iPod OS would be my perfect phone!

[BronxRed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Just buy the Treo 650 guys, and wait a couple years. You'll be happy the WHOLE TIME that you're waiting. Trust me. I just upgraded from my Treo 600 after using that phone for a year (and loving it, despite a few downfalls), and the new phone is like night and day next to the old phone. Mainly, DAY.

[the hole @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

iPhone

1GB flash memory, SD slot, scrollwheel, osx mobile/ipod os, canon 5mpixel cam, quadband gsm/WCDMA/Edge, bluetooth and wifi802.11N with VoIP and to top it all off... 24 hours talk time 1 month standby powered with a hydrogen fuel cell....ahh dreams

[bjabrad @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Even if this ad is fake or old an iPhone does make sense for Apple in terms of iCal, Entourage, iTunes, iPhoto, iSight, iChat and Quicktime. I think what makes the most sense is for Apple to become a MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) aka private label cell phone provider most likely for Sprint just like ESPN just did. Sprint just wants to sell airtime and Apple wants to control the total customer experience from Apple specified cell phones to the software, content and mobile services such as video, pictures, music, ringtones, etc... Why Sprint??? EV-DO high speed data that will probably have the quickest nationwide rollout, MVNO agreements with Virgin and ESPN. Hey, but what do I know, this is all just wishful thinking. Right???

[milly @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

i've been waiting for something like this from apple.. i'll drop the sidekick to in a second. just hope it has AIM and a really nice keyboard

[silence @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

to hole:
yeah, and at the price of a 15" powerbook. not a porsche of cellphones, but rather ferrari or bentley.

[dhi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I think that people should think of it this way: It's not an iPhone - it's an iPod with a phone.

Why start up a whole new category with a new name when you can just extend the current one? It's as if Apple would've released a iPhotoViewer rather than calling it iPod Photo.

Expect the iPod Phone.

[Nicholas Paredes @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Ravi,

The iPod OS is now BSD? I was completely unaware of this, but it would make sense if the iPod had a decent processor. A micro-kernal would essentially accomplish what Palm is trying to do with Linux.

[deepak @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I think the ad in http://www.shampoopoo.com/pictures/iphone.jpg is fake. Why? Because that phone looks UGLY! :-). White plastic and Aluminum? And there is an apple logo, the word "iPhone" and some other text at the bottom that I cannot make out. The iPod does not have the apple logo on the front (it is only in the screen at startup and on the back), and the iPod does not say "iPod" on the front.

[ravi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Nicholas,

The iPod OS is not BSD, but it is a stripped down Mach microkernel.
There was a recent Machtech article about Quicktime on iPod which said so. (Sept, Oct or Nov).

You can apparently see it if you dock your iPod and look at the file system via Terminal.

Cheers,
Ravi

[Ben @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

The iPhone was a concept drawing that was on the back cover of a british mac magazine that they come up with each month. The magazine is called iCreate and your local Barnes and Noble or Borders carry it, its an awesome magazine that I wish they had at a reasonable price in this country (its like 15 or 20 bucks imported here per issue!)

[Billy R. @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

THERE IS POSITIVELY AN APPLE CELL PHONE. My father was meeting up with an apple rep and she was showing him her iPod Photo. when she made a call on her "white as hell" cell phone as my dad remarked. he asked and she said it was a prototype of an apple-motorola cell phone; he didn't pictures what made me really mad but it did play mp3's and had of course a color screen.

[John Petit @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

The iPhone makes sense if they can solve the battery life issue, and they may have if they use the new fuel cell batteries. But if they make the iPhone, then why not add the next element to the mix...satellite radio. To me satellite radio (SIRIUS) would be the perfect companion to the iPod, especially if it featured the ability to buy the song that is playing on the radio.