On Wednesday, 07 September at a special event in San Francisco Apple has finally unveiled the long-awaited iTunes phone. A collaboration between Apple and US cell phone giant, Motorola – the ROKR (pronounced “rocker”).
Current iPod Mini owners are also expected to be wooed by Apple’s iPod Mini replacement, the iPod nano, retailing from USD$199. Holding up to 1,000 songs and touted to be thinner than a Number Two pencil!
“The Motorola ROKR features a color display for viewing album art, dual built-in stereo speakers and stereo headphones that also serve as a mobile headset with microphone. Music fans can randomly autofill or manually fill the mobile phone with playlists of their favorite music, audiobooks and Podcasts from their iTunes library via a USB connection. The Motorola ROKR pauses music automatically when users take a call and offers the ability to listen to music while checking messages or snapping a photo. “
The ROKR shipment dates are expected:
- U.S. – today, exclusively with Cingular
- U.K. – expected to be available first with Carphone Warehouse in mid-September and with O2, Orange, Virgin Mobile, BT Mobile and other top retailers by late September
- France – expected to be available by late September through key retailers
- Italy – expected to be available by late September through key retailers
- Canada – expected to be available in mid- to late-September with Rogers Wireless
- Hong Kong – expected to be available by late September through multiple retail outlets and operator channels
- Australia, Singapore and the Philippines – expected to be available late September through early October through retail and operator channels
- Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and other markets throughout the world – expected to be available in the fourth quarter
At the same event, Apple also announced replacing its iPod Mini with the new iPod Nano.
“The white device features a color display and can support photos, uses a grey click wheel to navigate, and is 80 percent smaller in volume than the original iPod — thinner than a number two pencil, said Jobs. The iPod nano weighs 1.5 ounces or 42 grams.”
iPod Mini second hand sales are expected to increase.