WSJ -- Next year, Motorola will offer smartphones that can play iTunes. This makes both the iPod and the Motorola phones more desireable. Plus it helps lock in Apple's technology as a de facto standard.
Steve Jobs is facilitating several arrangements that extend Apple's reach in digital portable music.
- HP has licensed iTunes and has agreed to distribute iPods.
- Real Networks has figured out how to play its files on iPods.
- Apple has 50% of the US market for hard-disk based audio players.
The Motorola deal is a big snatch of action. Motorola shipped 24m phones last quarter alone. The trick will be to incorporate iTunes onto most of the Motorola arsenal, instead of the smartphone segment which represents no more than one-third of sales.
Nick Wingfield -- "Apple's iTunes to Play on Motorola Phones" in The Wall Street Journal Europe, July 28, 2004.
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