Mossberg: Apple building cell phone, media hub

In an article looking at the different approaches taken by Apple and Microsoft in building products, Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is working on a cell phone and a home-media hub. “In the post-PC era we’re in today, where the focus is on things like music players, game consoles and cellphones, the end-to-end model is the early winner,” Mossberg says. “Tightly linking hardware, software and Web services propelled Apple to a huge success with its iPod. Microsoft, meanwhile, has struggled to make its component model work on these devices and, in a telling sign, is using the Apple end-to-end model itself in its Xbox game-console business. Now, Apple is working on other projects built on the same end-to-end model as the iPod: a media-playing cellphone and a home-media hub.”