iPod Becomes iMobile

Apple and Motorola are all set to launch an iPod powered mobile phone early next week. The new phone will be compatible with Apple’s iTunes software, which has helped to sell millions of iPods.

As usual Apple is tightly guarding the announcement but industry is speculating a launch in a special event scheduled by Apple.

Apple has scheduled a “special event” for September 7, but the company has declined to comment on whether it would use the date to announce the iTunes phone. A Cingular spokesperson also declined to comment and Motorola did not immediately return a request for comment.

Nevertheless, it would not be a shock if the iTunes phone were announced next week. In June, Motorola told the press the phone would be revealed before the quarter ends in September. In July, Apple said the device would come out later in the summer.

The new device will initially allow people to transfer songs from their personal computers to their mobile phones and listen to them via headphones.

Eventually such a phone could allow users to download songs wirelessly.

The New York Times said the phone will be marketed under Motorola’s Rockr brand and will be available to subscribers of the Cingular telephone network in the US

The Apple-Motorola collaboration is the latest step in the increasing convergence between so-called smart mobile phones and music players.

The forthcoming iPod phone is understood to contain a memory card on to which users will be able to transfer songs from their computer in the popular MP3 format, and the display screen on the new handset will be modelled on that of an iPod.

It will pitch Motorola into direct competition with Nokia, which will shortly launch its N91 handset capable of holding 3,000 songs. It is expected in the shops for Christmas with an initial price tag of about £450, but that price will come down depending on the tariff offered by the mobile network operator.

The same turf is being fought over by Sony-Ericsson, which has already launched a music- player phone under its well-known Walkman brand.

However, Apple possesses the market advantage that iPod users will already be familiar with the iTunes software package, which they use to catalogue songs and also to buy new tracks at 79p per download.