[Jason Snell]

Political discussions are off-topic and will be deleted. Please stay on topic. Thanks!

[CruftForce7]

What a world. I don't want to say that the ROKR is completely worthless, but you'd need to wear blinders of truly mythic proportions to believe that it's poised to steal the market away from either regular iPods or competing cell phones. For crying out loud, it doesn't even support USB 2! You'd think they could have at least gotten that right.
Once upon a time (back in '97 or thereabouts) I was under the misconception that "convergence" was all about streamlining the data pathways between devices, so that your camcorder, television, home stereo, portable music device, and home computer could all talk the same language, thus making it easier to acquire, edit, and play back your media without having to jump through all kinds of hoops to move from one platform to the next. It seems I was mistaken, because today's vision of convergence is apparently limited to perfecting the recipe for the world's best combination floor wax & dessert topping. And now we have more and more DRM to keep us safe from the constant threat of cyber-piracy (or in this case, the threat of being able to put more than 100 songs on the ROKR) and platforms that are so closed-off that you can't even use your own photograph as your phone's wallpaper without paying $5 for the privilege.
I'm not buying it. I'm not buying into this half-baked corporate vision of the digital future, and I'm sure as heck not buying any of the hardware that these jokers are churning out. I guess that means I should go back to hugging trees and fraternizing with communists now...

[bigpics]

Let's see, Steve Jobs is scheduled to do a Keynote at MacWorld Paris and Motorola is FINALLY ready to release the long-delayed (never has so much been done to produce so little) ROKR.
Steve, planning to launch the Nano in Paris in plenty of time for the holiday sales season, sees that no matter how long it's taken, ROKR's a dog that will take some of the luster off the whole iTunes/Pod halo so moves up the Nano intro to synch with the ROKR deal. (And cancels the MWord key.)
And doesn't tell Zander what the othe product he's going to introduce is.
Result: Apple looks as good as ever, Motorola looks clueless (and feels dissed).
Neo-result: A juicy soundbite.

[SpaceCat]

In reply to:

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Is it me or did he just insult the American customers?

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I distinctly got that impression, too. Makes me a lot more interested in checking out Nokia the next time I get a new cellphone. I've bought goods from enough companies that treat their customers like dirt; why should I have to keep buying from Motorola if the head of the company says things like that?
Plus, Zander, not everyone wants a European all-in-one style cellphone. I just want something simple and cheap that doesn't run out of juice quickly.

[Uncle_Deercamp]

He's just cranky on Monday morning. Give him a Starbuck's and he'll be a happy little corporate zombie in no time.

[rlavere]

In reply to:

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today's vision of convergence is apparently limited to perfecting the recipe for the world's best combination floor wax & dessert topping.

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Two words: Redi-Whip.
Trust me.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[darkstar1940]

One should look at Motorola's cellular analog and digital history. Most people are unaware of the type of networks that cell phones use--GSM or CDMA which are the two main digital networks. An older network called TDMA is being supplanted by GSM.
Motorola once was the leading global cell phone provider but not any more. They had fought the "3G" global standard for a while. So, bottom line, they have been more interested in themselves than their customers for a long time.

[Netizen_Kane]

In reply to:

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i completely disagree.... if everyone wanted an all-in-one then everyone would own DVD-TV combos. the reason why people don't want all-in-ones is because if any of the components break and you have to send it in then you are SOL - no phone, no mp3 and no camera. so if the camera breaks and you have to send it in, you now are left with nothing, even if the other 2 components worked fine.

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It's the same reason combination fax/scanner/printer units haven't taken over the market.

[RichardBronosky]

I'd love to see a phone that was as good at being a phone as an iPod is at being an MP3 player. Easy of use, network reception, syncing, battery life, and size are the demands of consumers. Make that happen, make a ton of money.
5 years ago I paid $200 for my Nokia 8290. It was GREAT, but it didn't have BlueTooth and was impossible to sync with a computer. I would pay $200 for it today if it had non-crippled BlueTooth. Talk about making a fortune! You could sell 5 year old technology at todays prices. No camera, no MP3 player, no color screen. Just AMAZING reception, AMAZING battery life, and BlueTooth.

[pcharles]

According to legend, Jobs tantrums were generally about Apple products and making them better. In general, those tantrums were relatively private. This guy seems to be a little upset about someone elses product and is having a meltdown in the national media. That is not good for Motorola.

[Steve_S]

In reply to:

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The ROKR is a piece of [filtered]. The idea of combining a phone with an iPod is not half bad but Motorola couldn't make a decent phone if their life depended on it, never mind an iPod phone.

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The ROKR is a disappointment for many, but suggesting that Motorola couldn't make a decent phone is ridiculous. The RAZR is a perfect example of what Motorola is capable of.
That said, I'd imagine much of this is being blown out of context. Keep in mind, the main event for Apple's music presentation was the ROKR. Clearly the Nano stole the show. It's not hard to imagine why there's a bit of sour grapes coming from Motorola. Not to mention, the ROKR itself has met with relatively poor reviews.
Steve

[Lectrick]

RAZR ROKR.features Motorola.CEO.rantmode(false) ROKR.storage+
= Success
Quitcherbitchin. Is this not obvious to everyone, that the RAZR is the hot phone du jour but the ROKR looks like [filtered] warmed-over, so if you combined the iTunes stuff with the RAZR, plus as much storage as technology allows, then you might just have a hit on your hands?

[warlock7]

This is the sad, simple truth. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[warlock7]

This holds true in many, yet not all cases. Take the home receiver option vs. seperate components. Most people buy a receiver without even knowing that there are separate components available to them (amp, pre-amp and tuner), many more still would just buy a boombox which is another example of a "portable" which has several functions in one device.
This tendency also holds true when referring to small electronic devices, most people have come to expect that their portable media device, prior to the MP3 player revolution, have multiple uses (radio, tape/CD, recorder).
It might simply be a question of time before most people come to the realization that they want an all-in-one device to suit many needs at once.
I would like to have my pager, cell phone, MP3 player and flash memory storage devices all in one unit. I for one am tired of having a damn utility belt on every time I leave home to go to the office.