The Hindu Business Line : The buzz is louder

FOR a long, long time, the only music a telephone could produce was the `ring ring.' But now, music, it seems, has become the soul of the phone - mobile phone, that is. Without music, there is no mobile phone, cell-phone manufacturers and service providers alike seem to believe so.

Apple is the latest to add to the music buzz in the mobile phone market. Apple, riding on the phenomenal success of its portable digital music player iPod, has joined hands with Motorola and launched a new phone called `ROKR' that can store 100 songs. The new phone comes at a price of $250 in the US.

Such phones that can store songs aren't really new to the market; many companies have already launched them. But the ROKR became the talk of the technology town as one of the companies behind it was Apple — and Apple's iPod is hugely popular. Now everybody is keen to know whether the ROKR will be as successful as the iconic iPod.

As such, the ROKR is not a revolutionary music phone when compared with other existing models, such as the Sony Ericsson Walkman W800. ROKR can store around 100 songs and download tracks from Apple's iTunes online music store. It also features a camera.

Compared with this, the Sony Ericsson W800 has 512 MB of memory that can accommodate 125 songs, and has a two mega-pixel camera. Nokia, the leading cell-phone maker in the world, is getting ready to come out with its own range of music phones that are expected to have more storage capabilities and features. For instance, the N91 can store 3,000 songs. But yes, these phones are likely to be much more expensive.

Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, is increasing competition for the ROKR on the price front. It is reportedly coming out with a new music phone, the W600, later this month at $199. This phone will have only 256 MB of internal memory as compared with the W800.

Competition for iPod

Industry experts believe that Apple is upping the ante in the mobile phone market with the ROKR to safeguard the iPod's turf. Upcoming music phones, with their cavernous storage capacities, may well pose a challenge to the iPod, though some analysts also point out that these all-in-one devices may not enthuse many users since they could be unwieldy to use.The recent launch of iPod Nano is also being viewed as a step by Apple to fend off competition from music mobile phones. Flash memory-based Nano is smaller than a visiting card and comes with a storage capability of 2 GB or 4 GB, capable of storing 500 and 1,000 songs, respectively.

Sony, which pioneered the mobile music mania with its legendary Walkman, is also turning the heat on the iPod, with newer, digital versions of the Walkman. The new digital Walkman, to be available in five models, will have hard drives of six gigabytes and 20 gigabytes. These models will have features such as shuffling songs based on the users' preference of music.

Picture by V. Sreenivasa Murthy

vipin@thehindu.co.in

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