Last minute iTunes phone rumors

There are only a few hours remaining before Stevie J. puts an end to all the rumors and speculation and finally introduces the iTunes phone, but we figured we'd toss out a couple last minute gossipy tidbits:

• We've heard this before, but an employee at Rogers Wireless, a Canadian GSM carrier, confirms that at least one of the new iTunes phones will be called the E1. He says that they should have the phone before the end of Q3 (which means before the end of the month).

• This one seems a bit iffier, but supposedly the iTunes phone will be sold at Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and at Best Buy. Apple does have that distro deal with Wal-Mart, but this could be a little more downmarket than they're going for with the phone, so this one remains to be seen.

• Supposedly Cingular will offer wireless music download service for the phone, but they'll cost $2 a pop, or twice what you'd pay to download a track from regular iTunes Music Store.

We'll have live coverage of the event, barring any technical difficulties, beginning at 1pm EST.

[james Davies @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I have to wonder whether Apple would let Motorola give it an alphanumerical name such as 'E1'. Apple have always been one for simple names: i.e. iBook, iPod, Mac - they've never gone with the chunky, hard to remember ones.
Granted, 'E1' is a relatively simple name, but I wouldn't bet against it being something simpler...

(Hooray first comment!)

[anonymous @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

http://www.directmobilephones.com/motorola_e1_o2.htm

just type Motorola E1 in google and look what comes out.

[fearsim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I've saw someone having the E790 and posting pictures on motomodders.net.

I think the only problem with this phone is that the 100 songs limit. It might lure other people to buy the w800i walkman phone or even the n91

[Ed_NYC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I can only imagine how excited all the Steve Jobs� groupies must be, salivating, anxiously awaiting to hear from their god Apple.

[Jimmy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I've always thought it was odd that Apple (master of the UI) and Motorola (disaster of the UI) were collaborating.

I'm interested to see how the two worlds collide... and then I'm sure that I'll decice buy a Nokia N91 instead. ;)

[PeeBee @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Ed_NYC

What do you salivate over?

Longhorn ... sorry Windows Vista? You must be dehydrated by now with such a long wait.

Personally I am hoping that something else other than the iTunes phone gets announced.

[tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I just want apple to release that damn phone so we wouldn't have to look at that dark blue picture anymore :)

[JL @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

And this is supposed to excite me how?

I guess a lot of Apple fans would get excited if
Jobs held a press conference to give the day
the world ends too...

(couldn't resist)

[RF @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Igoring the haters for a moment...

Has anyone noticed that the iTunes store has not been updated yet this week? At least in the UK. Ususally each tuesday the store has new free downloads, celeb playlists etc. But this week - nothing.

Related?

PS I know some people don't like apple and some don't like microsoft. But with all the crap in the world at the moment don't you think we could all just get along?

[Elliott @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#8 , why comment if you don�t care ? It�s waste of bandwidth, you know...

[Dan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I'm one of the biggest Apple fan boys out there (I even used to work for them) - but I'm not feeling the excitement on this one. Of course everything we've seen online are 'rumors' and need to be taken with a grain of salt, but it really looks like Apple might botch this one pretty good.

Like Jimmy said, Moto's interface is so bad that I can't use their phones, but their build quality is pretty good. If they let Apple have free range with the UI then I might be excited, but I have a feeling that Apple was only allowed to tinker with the iTunes application.

Here's to hoping the rumors are wrong...

[Rus @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Actually, Apple does have a relationship with Walmart - when HP dropped the iPod, Walmart signed on - there are now Apple iPods in my local Walmart and Sam's. There have always been iTunes gift cards.

[Joern @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

its using the tiny memory cards, the size limit on those is 256MB ... it says in the user manual that is posted on the fcc website ... so it can't hold more then 120 song ... giving the size of the shuffle or the rumored size reduction of the mini, why bother with this phone ...

[Peter Rojas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Rus,

That's exactly what I wrote: "Apple does have that distro deal with Wal-Mart,"

[tennis guy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

When did Ed ZNDR first mention this phone? Like two years ago?
.
.

[fearsim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

to #13
San-Disk is shipping in the 512MB Trans-Flash cards soon, around Q3

[Andy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Maybe the phone will have bluetooth v2.0 to sync up with all the latest apples?

[Rus @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

""Apple does have that distro deal with Wal-Mart,""

A lot of websites think the HP deal falling through, axed this relationship along with Radio Shack - neither is true.

Sorry, must've misread that - sometimes the coolspeak on this site reads funny ;-)

One of my biggest questions - will it have an Apple dock connector or YET ANOTHER proprietary moto connector. That - to me - would be one of the coolest features.

[Kai Cherry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Re #13:

I guess until you actually use a "Music Phone" you don't "get it". I sure didn't until we got a W800i here.

The fact of the matter is, while I have an iPod in my car, I take my phone *everywhere*...its very "wearable"...moreso than an iPod, or even the shuffle; one always has their phone with them.

Normal listening habits on the go for I suspect most people are limited to certain music, or a set of "favs" or perhaps your latests aquisitions. Having that on your phone makes for a totally different sort of experience that quite frankly doesn't need a 15K song archive. Its more like "your favorite music wheverever you are" rather than "every song you have, everywhere, sagging your pocket."

That said, not having the option to choose how much of that music to tote around (100 songs eh? Hrm) is a bit...silly...but given the way its worked out with the W800i, 1GB of songs, and a nice app to manage it all on the computer side, I guess its not really about quantity of songs, but the quality of the experience.

[tino @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Does the iPhone so far claim the king of rumor entries in engadget?

Somebody please do a research stat!

[marc @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

well, if you google "iphone" it seems that Apple takes you to apple.org and maybe that is more likely than "e1" I hope it does well...

[Frank @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#9, My understanding is that there will be a joint Apple/Motorola website launch when the announcement comes. But I guess that's no great surprise.

[Frank @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#18 I think it's pretty clear that there will actually be several "itunes phones" launched before Christmas. I know of at least one that will have the mini-usb connector that Motorola is transitioning to for most of its phones eventually.

[Anthony @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

What time is this announcement supposed to come?

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

RE: What time is the announcement?

Should be around 1pm Eastern

[SH @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I�m just wondering how much free range Apple would actually have over the UI since it failed to file certain patents with the iPod interface?

[ROKR @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

The announcement should come at 1:00PM today. That is when the event starts.

[alex @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

jeez, people need to learn how to read, it says right there in the post that it's 1pm EST.

[Martyn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

1PM EST - what's that in British money?

[Tugg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

6pm GMT I think, or 'tea time'. 8-)

[Martyn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Ta very much old chap.

[Barbara Gi @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Um, if it is the E1, there's no Bluetooth streaming audio. If you look at what Moto has qualified with the Bluetooth trade association for the E1, there's no A2DP or AVRCP profiles. http://qualweb.bluetooth.org/Template2.cfm?LinkQualified=QualifiedProducts

[Swissboy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

WAKEUP PEOPLE. Apple releases a music player and what not and yeah they did ok with the iPod.

BUT WHERE IS THE TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT??

STILL black and white screes. NO radio. NOTHING. AHHH a great interface you say? iTunes you say? Just like MSN Messenger and virus ridden Windows and Sony's PROPEITY SHIT.

Has ANYONE seen the Nokia N91?

- Bluetooth Stereo Headphones
- WIFI l/b/g (thats Wireless lan ON YOUR PHONE)
- 3G NETWORKS
- 2 megapixel camera
- 4GB HARDRIVE
- PLAYS .M4A (iTunes format, not music store protected)
- PLAYS .WMA (Windows protected)
- PLAYS OGG
- HAS 3.5M "STANDARD" JACK
- Music technology developed in conjunction with Bose and so on...

Price?

Yeah much more. BUT it's going to last you a LONG while and the interface is EASY (drag and drog). You will have what Apple will never give you. INNOVATION

[dw @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

33. Drag and Drog is the best.

"You will have what Apple will never give you. INNOVATION"

Oh come off it. Love or hate Apple, you can't claim they're not innovative. Apple have to be careful - a phone from Moto with the iTunes interface and a 4Gb HDD would conflict with the iPod mini.

[Swissboy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Yes. That is EXACTLY what I am claiming.

Apple trys this smokescreen and mirrors (they never created the MP3 player but only picked up scraps and told a PROPRIETY format to suckers and told them "SEE it's sooo easy for us to control you").

Name me 1 thing THEY did that was innovative and NEVER done before?

AND answer this...would you buy a Motorola phone?

There is a reason Europe is ahead in technology and KNOWS innovation HENCE this is why Nokia,SE,Samsung are leading there. THOSE companies are innovating in mobile technology.

Apple is innovating on suckers. Period.

[narco @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I'm a long-time Mac user who was waiting for the iTunes phone to come out for a long time. I gave up a couple months ago and dropped my funds on a Treo 650 and don't regret it one bit. Even if the iTunes phone looks nice (the main concern amongst us Mac users, apparently) I will still be happy with my purchase because my Treo works great with my G5 with Salling Clicker.

If Apple was the only one working on the phone, I'm sure it'd be a lot better. But knowing Motorola, their input will probably make this thing blow. I'd like to be proven wrong, though.

Fishes,
narco.

[Ray Wert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Picture from Cingular's website of the E1. http://www-xl.cingularextras.com/fuel/cingular/images/phones/motorola_e790.gif

[Ray Wert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Cingular also has an accessories page up as well. Go here: http://www-xl.cingularextras.com/fuel/enduser/portal/endUserHTMLHome?makeName=motorola&dc=534&modelId=534&imageField2.x=41&imageField2.y=10

[PauldG @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I agree to wait for the nokia n91, or that samsung with a hard drive and windows mobile:

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000403056285/

i agree with the moto haters and their gripes with the UI (though i have a RAZR myself). My biggest bone to pick is that the E1 is just recycled moto garbage with an itunes app that will rip u off at $2 a song:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=305

[Alexei @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

I think this E1 phone looks foul. It doesn't exactly scream Apple does it? If I were Jobsworth I wouldn't want my brand associated with that. My guessing is we'll see something different. Or at least some new iPods.

[J@ffa @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

Is there a link to the live updates feed? Or will it just turn up as a news item?

[davis @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

#35: "Name me 1 thing THEY did that was innovative and NEVER done before?"

Apple is innovative, you can't question it. although simple, the jog wheel on an MP3 player is by far the best interface amongst all players, their UI is the easiest on the market to learn and to use, especially on mac OS X but also the ipod... also to name one... FIREWIRE was an apple innovation and is now used all over the PC market.

[egghat @ Dec 19th 2005 12:19AM]

This one looks MUCH more like an iPhone IMHO:
http://www.akihabaranews.com/en/news_10185.html