August 5, 2004
Why cell phones can't compete with iPods
An interesting article in Business Week on Apple and Motorola's new partnership, - whereby a special version of iTunes software will be made available to certain Motorola cell phones - and how downloading music onto cell phones will not be a general threat to the iPod.
"With cell phones looking and performing more and more like mini-computers, thanks to soaring amounts of memory and enhanced video and e-mail capabilities, Apple fans and analysts are wondering if Jobs isn't letting a fox into the iPod henhouse. They fear the deal could cannibalize the $1 billion or more in annual iPod sales in exchange for less-profitable digital-music sales and customer growth of dubious value.
To start with, the fears of cannibalization are clearly out of left field. Most cell phones have been optimized for voice communication. This requires far less power than high-quality music playback.. "The biggest issue is power consumption. Anything that changes the way you use your phone and consume your battery [power] is clearly going to cause problems," says Rene Link, vice-president at San Diego mobile-communications consultancy inCode.
Battery life for any music player cell phones made with current technology would be abysmal. What's more, it isn't improving all that quickly."
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