[Doxxic]

Does anyone have any idea how iTunes Mobile would be different from the iPod interface or otherwise iTunes???

[LAmezq3984]

The interface would have to be easily readable on the smaller format screen of a mobile phone. You would carry less songs obviously, there would be no file converting (such as MP3 to AAC), probably limited playlist functionality. I don't think there would be a visualizer (that would be cool though) Its mostly itunes, with a scaled down interface, less "computer specific" features, and basic playback of your songs. A positive I can see about this, is that there might be some bluetooth connectivity built into the new iTunes to support the phone. Maybe some features like the salling clicker built in from the get go. And with all the new talk about wifi/wimax phone networks, who knows, maybe wireless internet support! I'll just keep dreaming....

[Doxxic]

Ok, so it could be partly similar to the iPod interface and partly to iTunes and deal with possibilities the phone offers...

Then wouldn't it make sense if eventually all iPods got iTunes Mobile but without the phone specific functionality?

[LAmezq3984]

yeah that makes sense, except you would lose the elagant interface that the iPod has, and it so renowned for. The reason it works on a phone, is that we are already used to pressing weird commands, and multiple keys for a phone. people realize that its a phone first, and fun toy second, and so the phone must reflect that. The iPod to me already has all the great function that iTunes offers. adding more to that is just glut. Remember that its a device designed for iTunes. Its like adding a tiny mirror to a mirror or something. The full size mirror was doing a great job reflecting, but someone thought, wouldn't it be cool to add a mirror on the mirror? the smaller mirror reflects the same image as the big mirror, but slightly distorted, and of course, much smaller. I have no idea what I just said

[Doxxic]

Originally Posted by LAmezq3984 yeah that makes sense, except you would lose the elagant interface that the iPod has, and it so renowned for. The reason it works on a phone, is that we are already used to pressing weird commands, and multiple keys for a phone. people realize that its a phone first, and fun toy second, and so the phone must reflect that. The iPod to me already has all the great function that iTunes offers. adding more to that is just glut. Remember that its a device designed for iTunes. Its like adding a tiny mirror to a mirror or something. The full size mirror was doing a great job reflecting, but someone thought, wouldn't it be cool to add a mirror on the mirror? the smaller mirror reflects the same image as the big mirror, but slightly distorted, and of course, much smaller. I have no idea what I just said

Precisely what I was thinking!

The logic might be that since a phone has more buttons anyway, they might as well use them for some basic searching and navigating, like you do in your contacts list.

Yes... the more I think of that, the more probable I think it is.

They must be seeing it this way: so we have these buttons and the consumers have these expectations about their functions when the phone is in iPod mode. Let's not disappoint them...

[Doxxic]

& by the way, don't you think they might happen to have built in a store as well? Don't you think that's why the showing of the iPod phone was cancelled at last?

I mean, if they were about to show the iTunes phone already a few months ago, the interface should have been all but ready.

And if the big providers want that, why not? If it gets the phones sold, Apple should just do it. The difference in ideas about the possibilities of selling songs online should be the reason to do it.

I mean, if Apple thinks no-one buys the songs that way, while the providers think people do, Apple should be giving them a big piece of the pie and everyone should be happy!

I'd be surprised though if Apple managed to stuff a store interface into a phone... oh well if you can buy ringtones with your phone...

[LAmezq3984]

yeah, I should have mentioned that I thought there would be a store, I assumed that was an obvious feature, but a huge one that I overlooked. I really think the hardest thing about making an "iTunes mobile music store" would be dealing with providers. Sprint, Verizon, even Cingular all turned down the idea of supporting this phone based on the reasoning that people could sync the phone with their home PC/Mac and skip out on buying ringtones from their own services for 3 times the price. So Apple is facing a huge hurdle here with this. Apple and Moto were most likely going to release the phone sans a music store feature and tout the ability to sync with the standard iTMS from home via bluetooth/USB/flash device. I'm guessing they delayed the release because Tmobile might have liked what they saw, and decided to bite. So now they have to build an infrastructure that would tie the mobile store to the database of the standard store, and somehow get Tmobile (or whoever they are working with) paid. Which is why a late summer debut is on the horizon. Thats my thoughts on the music store anyway...

[{ilent{cope]

a click wheel would be cool, but i doubt that will happen

[MacGregor]

I think a click wheel on the phone would also be great and since 80% of my calls go to people in my address book, I could do most my calling and all of my recieving without a numerical pad. The numbers could slide out when I needed them.

But that's hardware, I think phone should not be an iPod. I think the phone should be totally different functional-wise and that function should be Apple's foray into a subscription-like service. It should include the iTunes library, but used as streaming "radio" where you make your own playlist or use custom playlists from the already large library of playlists on the iTunes store.

This would allow Apple to explore a new paradigm without pulling the iPod into it. The phone should be mobile audio communication device and not a portable harddrive like the iPod. Like the Shuffle it takes the weaknesses of the format and makes it a strength.

How?

First a viewable set of playlists is much easier to navigate on a small screen than an entire webpage store, so the interface is more appropriate and you are not even calling it a store anymore, it is an iTunes RadioFeed(?).

Second, the songs are cached on the little phone hdrive as mp3 files or whatever, but as you select different playlists, if you go over the storage capacity, the device preemptively overwrites the other songs with what you will be listening to next. Does that make sense? It will require a seemless interface that would end up being more like watching streaming QT video, than the iTunes store. The phone itself would be like a client to the servers with enough buffer to make songs appear in real time or appear to be present on the hd of the phone itself.

Third, this requires streaming infrastructure and to that there is a cost...a cost bourne by the wireless phone companies who also get to charge extra for this. That means Sprint and friends are happy and willing to support the phone and the Apple service. Let's say you charge $20 / month for the service. $10 goes to Apple to supply content and playlists and interface and drm. $10 goes to the phone company to provide the wireless infrastructure and support on top of the regular phone bill.

It is abit complicated, but if Apple can set up standards and if the tech. is there to make streaming seamless, then this is a win-win-win for Apple-Moto-Sprint or whatever other triumvirates are formed.