Motorola plans media event, Jobs likely to attend

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Motorola on Monday will host a media event as part of its Annual Financial Analyst Meeting to introduce some of the company's latest products, which may include the highly anticipate ROKR iTunes phone, sources tell AppleInsider.



The July 25th event is where Motorola will unveil "what's wow and what's now," according to the company. The feature presentation will be delivered by Motorola chairman and chief executive officer Ed Zander. Motorola will also provide a live webcast, which is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time.



It was at the same event last July that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs joined Zander via satellite to announce that Motorola and Apple were teaming to bring iTunes capabilities to Motorola?s next-generation handsets via a USB or Bluetooth connection.



During a press conference on May 19, Zander said the ROKR iTunes phone -- believed to be the first fruit of the Apple/Motorola endeavor -- would debut in "a couple of more months." That would place the introduction of the phone around the same time as the analyst event.



Sources believe Jobs has planned an encore appearance for this year's event to help Zander take the wraps off the much anticipated iTunes phone. The device, believed to be similar to this image of the ROKR, is expected to retail for around $199.



According to one source, the iTunes phone may only store about two-dozen tunes in its default configuration. Customers will be able to purchase an upgrade from Apple, which will increase the number of tunes that can be stored on the phone, the source added.



A spokeswomen for Motorola declined to comment on whether Jobs would make an appearance or what products would be announced, explaining that the company is not offering any advanced details on the event.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I wonder if the fact that Moto no longer produces the PPC chip line and the fact that management is different from that of ten or so years ago (when Apple stopped the clones) means that Apple and Moto can work more amiably together, because it seems that way.
  • Reply 2 of 26
    mactoysmactoys Posts: 7member
    More likely that there is alot more money with music on mobile phones than there was ever with PCC.



    CNBC mad money with Jim Cramer had the CEO of Moto on the show today. He hinted at the itunes phone but no date... For all those Verizon users can look forward for a Razor later this year.
  • Reply 3 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mactoys

    More likely that there is alot more money with music on mobile phones than there was ever with PCC.



    CNBC mad money with Jim Cramer had the CEO of Moto on the show today. He hinted at the itunes phone but no date... For all those Verizon users can look forward for a Razor later this year.




    Money isn't the only issue. With Isner at disney, Jobs had halted negotiations over Pixar and Disney. Now with Iger in charge, someone Jobs has gotten along with, Apple is suddenly making moves. We'll see if Pixar does as well.
  • Reply 4 of 26
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    two dozen songs in its currnet configuration. wouldn't it be interesting if the phone could stream songs from your .mac account? would give a lot of people some incentive to upgrade that .mac account, wouldn't it?
  • Reply 5 of 26
    naknak Posts: 101member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by rok

    two dozen songs in its currnet configuration. wouldn't it be interesting if the phone could stream songs from your .mac account? would give a lot of people some incentive to upgrade that .mac account, wouldn't it?



    Now that would be cool.
  • Reply 6 of 26
    tednditedndi Posts: 1,921member
    bandwidth upgrade is new in .mac.



    I wonder what this means?
  • Reply 7 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by TednDi

    bandwidth upgrade is new in .mac.



    I wonder what this means?




    It simply means that the monthly data flow in and out of the account can't exceed whatever limit it is set to, now 10GB/mo.



    Whether this means that as the above poster suggested, Apple will allow streaming from the .Mac accounts or not, is anyone's guess, though I suspect not.
  • Reply 8 of 26
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    It simply means that the monthly data flow in and out of the account can't exceed whatever limit it is set to, now 10GB/mo.



    Whether this means that as the above poster suggested, Apple will allow streaming from the .Mac accounts or not, is anyone's guess, though I suspect not.




    Somehow .Mac needs to get cheaper (yah, right) or add value and increased bandwidth is pretty useless unless you are going to podcast or stream something right from your account. Sounds good actually...



    I have thought for awhile that music on phones or even iPod shuffles could be the one implementation of subscription music that Apple could leverage and still keep the pay per song model intact. They would be separate services that inform each other and yet can remain optimized for both markets.



    Yet personal streaming to self would be like a big outdoors / internet version of Airport Express! Just deliver content to a player in the easiest way possible. This begs the questions: How fast can a 5 minute song download (in the background pre-emptively) to a cell phone and how much would you pay per song for the service?
  • Reply 9 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacGregor

    Somehow .Mac needs to get cheaper (yah, right) or add value and increased bandwidth is pretty useless unless you are going to podcast or stream something right from your account. Sounds good actually...



    I have thought for awhile that music on phones or even iPod shuffles could be the one implementation of subscription music that Apple could leverage and still keep the pay per song model intact. They would be separate services that inform each other and yet can remain optimized for both markets.



    Yet personal streaming to self would be like a big outdoors / internet version of Airport Express! Just deliver content to a player in the easiest way possible. This begs the questions: How fast can a 5 minute song download (in the background pre-emptively) to a cell phone and how much would you pay per song for the service?




    I don't think Apple would institute streaming from a .Mac account. I can't think of one good reason for them to do so. Also, 250MB's is way too small for that putpose. I could see streaming if you go to a party at someone's house and want to play your list. But that would be much better done from your iPod. If you don't even want to spend $99 on a Shuffle, then $39 will buy you at least the same amount of storage on a flash drive to store your songs.



    The bandwidth is needed id you do daily backups to your system, or have a web page that people go to for downloads. It has nothing to do with anything else.
  • Reply 10 of 26
    aquamacaquamac Posts: 585member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacGregor

    Somehow .Mac needs to get cheaper (yah, right) or add value and increased bandwidth is pretty useless.



    No kidding. I refuse to pay a 100 Bucks a year just to have a web based hard drive. Oh yeah, and a few mainly useless applicacations that have Free substitutes anyway. I took a friend of mine in to an Apple store to replace a her PC with an iMac. The sales prople were nice but I could not believe how much they were pushing .Mac on her. It was like a used car salesman trying to push a rusty yugo on a 16yo. The Apple store should be a place to go to for solutions not a Best Buy style, push whatever you can on the customer, store.
  • Reply 11 of 26
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by AquaMac

    ... The Apple store should be a place to go to for solutions not a Best Buy style, push whatever you can on the customer, store.



    well, welcome to how apple is run on-the-ground. the Mac experience is very very different from the "buying the mac" experience
  • Reply 12 of 26
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sunilraman

    well, welcome to how apple is run on-the-ground. the Mac experience is very very different from the "buying the mac" experience



    90% of what I need I go to one of the great resellers in town and they don't worry about .Mac. For the other 10%, the Apple Store staff have been just fine though I'm sure if I were a switcher, I'd get the spiel.



    I think the point of .Mac is that you get postcards and iSync and other things in a one stop shopping spot that you could get for cheaper, but at multiple places that have tons of advertizing. So, just like PBS, I will pay a bit more to have a quiet, elegant, well run service. But my problem is that the value of .Mac isn't increasing apace with what it should be.



    I assume podcast hosting and other future integrations with iTunes/Video should be added soon.
  • Reply 13 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    .Mac is like AOL. If you want or need the services it provides, then get it.



    Most of us who have been doing this for a while don't want (need?) this kind of help. but for others it's fine.
  • Reply 14 of 26
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by melgross

    .Mac is like AOL. If you want or need the services it provides, then get it.



    Most of us who have been doing this for a while don't want (need?) this kind of help. but for others it's fine.




    well, like mac os x, .mac is critical now for my day-to-day running my life and organising my work life.



    i was burnt by all the dotcom flameout shenanigans, with xdrive and mail.com and all this other crap all over the place and not integrated well enough into Os X. in 2001 my boss at the time in san fran showed me how he synced his Palm and mobile phone and outlook, and i was like cool.



    for me personally, being able to do that now with my iBook g4, .Mac, and sonyEricsson t630, and not have to deal with outlook or palm or microsoft pocket pc (i tried it last year, didn't like it)... well, it's priceless.
  • Reply 15 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sunilraman

    well, like mac os x, .mac is critical now for my day-to-day running my life and organising my work life.



    i was burnt by all the dotcom flameout shenanigans, with xdrive and mail.com and all this other crap all over the place and not integrated well enough into Os X. in 2001 my boss at the time in san fran showed me how he synced his Palm and mobile phone and outlook, and i was like cool.



    for me personally, being able to do that now with my iBook g4, .Mac, and sonyEricsson t630, and not have to deal with outlook or palm or microsoft pocket pc (i tried it last year, didn't like it)... well, it's priceless.




    It's good if you find it useful. I tried it for a while and couldn't find a use for it.
  • Reply 16 of 26
    sunilramansunilraman Posts: 8,133member
    36 hours to go till motorola event.



    this could be a big week for apple, wait and see is the name of the game.



    it could mean monday evening: iPhone announcement,

    tuesday morning: updated iBooks and Mac Mini



    this along with merged iPod/Photo and reduced price iPod Shuffle, updated iPod minis chugging along, could mean apple is all set for this quarter for some ownage.



    i suspect that whatever the iBooks and Mac Minis are, we appleInsiders will probably still bitch about the specs



    seeing that apple stock is starting of the week trading close to its all time high, either a lot of people are very optimistic or certain analysts have an idea of what's being rolled out this week
  • Reply 17 of 26
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Wouldn't it be cool if Apple offered [email protected] - for free? They could still put limitations, like only for OS X using people (no Windows PCs) and such, but wouldn't it be great if you got an e-mail address to go with your ass-spankin' PowerMac?



    1GB, no ads no banners, simple UI @mac.com e-mail would be a killer.
  • Reply 18 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    Wouldn't it be cool if Apple offered [email protected] - for free? They could still put limitations, like only for OS X using people (no Windows PCs) and such, but wouldn't it be great if you got an e-mail address to go with your ass-spankin' PowerMac?



    1GB, no ads no banners, simple UI @mac.com e-mail would be a killer.




    That would be great for people who are buying their new. and first machine. But unless you WANT .mac in your adress, it's not worthwile because we all already have e-mail addresses. I use usa.net so that if I change, I can continue to give that out.



    The problem is that unless you are a real rooter, having .mac is, well, like having aol after your name.
  • Reply 19 of 26
    gene cleangene clean Posts: 3,481member
    Having @mac.com is like having @gmail.com. I don't see the difference. Personally, I'd like to use @mac.com because of the UI not because it says @mac.com. I don't really care what it says, but I do like the simple and stylish UI that @mac.com addresses have.
  • Reply 20 of 26
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Gene Clean

    Having @mac.com is like having @gmail.com. I don't see the difference.



    I wish most people saw it that way.
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