Tech Talk

New rumors that iPod is working on a mp3-player/phone:

IPOD PHONE MAY RING IN

By Janet Whitman
New York Post
Friday, July 21, 2006

Apple Computer may have a new product in the works to ring up sales: an iPod phone.

The gadget, which would combine the computer giant's popular portable music player with a mobile phone, has been rumored for months.

Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about new merchandise, but a top executive hinted earlier this week that the company is working on a mobile phone music player.

"We don't think that the phones that are available today make the best music players," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's finance chief, told analysts on a call late Wednesday to discuss quarterly results.

"We're not sitting around and doing nothing," he added.

Cellphones that can play music are considered the biggest threat to Apple's dominance in the portable-music arena, though so far the products being offered by telephone companies have been disappointing.

Gadget
freaks got their strongest signal that an iPod phone might be on the way when Apple filed to trademark the phrase "Mobile Me" in January.

To retain the No. 1 spot in portable music player sales, Apple needs to keep innovating. Its sales of iPods, iPod accessories and downloaded tracks from the iTunes Music Store account for 45 percent of its business.

"Apple's ability to push the envelope is well understood, meaning that it's one of the few companies that could actually create an entirely new product category,"

Goldman Sachs David Bailey said in a note yesterday after adding Apple shares to the firm's "buy list." "We expect Apple to break some new ground with its advanced smart-phone technology."

Apple shares closed at $60.51, up $6.36, or 11.7 percent, on the day. They are down 16 percent this year. Analysts that track Apple believe the iPod phone could be introduced by next year. An Apple spokesman didn't return a call seeking comment.

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