Motorola iTunes Cell Phone Meets Media Moguls

The long awaited convergence phone that features iTunes MP3 support on a cell phone seems to have been delayed by a combination of billion dollar roadblocks:

• Cell phone companies want a share of the music download revenue stream with Motorola and Apple
• TMI (The Music Industry) may be having content distribution doubts -- like creating another Napster of freely sharable content -- and is pressuring the cell phone companies.

Will we see the Moto iTunes phone? I think so for several reasons: the most convincing is there's billions in potential handset, network service, and content revenue to be had. But the groaning board may look so appealing there's a fight on to get to the head of the buffet line.

Peter S. Kastner

Peter S. Kastner