News
Mix: Apple Wireless, iPod PC case, Dr. Bott, Download trends
Forbes says that Apple might be looking to become a phone company as a “mobile virtual network operator” or MVNO. “The solution could be for Apple to launch its own cellular network, doing an end run around carriers and providing the company with revenue from both selling phone handsets and from the resale of cellular service.”
Japanese PC case maker Scythe has “come up with a design to cash in on iPod mania among Windows users: an all-white unit that mimics the player’s click wheel with its control and LED layout,” reports The Register. [via Gizmodo]
The Oregonian has a profile of Eric Prentice, chief executive officer of Dr. Bott, a large Macintosh and iPod accessory distributor. “Today, he heads a company with 35 employees in an 18,000-square-foot office in Wilsonville. Annual sales top $20 million. The key to his success [is] the wildly popular iPod.”
To coincide with its 10th anniversary, CNET has posted its list of the top 10 trends in downloading over the last decade. iTunes came in at No. 6, with icq, Winamp, Napster, Firefox and Winzip rounding out the top 5.
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1
I don’t think that Apple will move into the mobile phone market at all…they are in the perfect position to recapture some of their lost market share in the home PC industry, and get OSX into the hands of more new users. Moving into the mobile phone market as a newcomer could backfire horribly for them, and might even set them back a few years.
Posted by AJ on July 8, 2005 at 10:50 AM (PDT)
2
If Apple got into phones they’d produce a handset with one button and which only lets you dial numbers that you download for 79 pence a pop, but can’t call from other phones.
Posted by PassiveSmoking on July 8, 2005 at 12:12 PM (PDT)
3
That PC is very ugly. There are better looking PC’s out there you could mod to look more Apple style.
If my Power Mac-esque micro tower actually ran, I’d already have an iPod dock built in.
Posted by minty on July 9, 2005 at 9:10 PM (PDT)
4
Apple’s iTunes phone does not need to have a wireless carrier’s approval for it to work as long as it is a GSM phone (the ones with SIM cards).
All Apple has to do is to sell UNLOCKED versions of the iTunes phone (just as third parties do on eBay). This allows the phone to work with ANY carrier that uses GMS (essentially all of them!).
Then all the user has to do is place the SIM card of their existing phone into the iTunes phone. Then viola! It works! An unlocked phone is one which is not given a password which forces it to work only with a single wireless carrier.
Note that I am assuming that the user wants to download their music on iTunes then upload it into the iTunes phone via bluetooth or USB, rather than wanting to download music via wireless service. Of course if the iTunes phone has Java, conceivably, you can download a Java cell version of iTunes into the phone and download music from Apple itself via wireless.
Note that the most important thing is the users can use the iTunes phone irrespective of the wireless carrier’s consent or not - so long as it is a GSM phone.
Posted by James Katt on July 11, 2005 at 9:54 AM (PDT)