An IPod Cellphone Said to Be Imminent

The long wait might soon be over. The New York Times is reporting that Apple and Motorola plan to launch their music phone collaboration next week on September 7 in San Francisco.

Providing the leak is Roger Entner at Ovum,who said the new phone will be marketed by Cingular Wireless and include iTunes. "It's a deluxe music player now on your cellphone," he said of the device, which will allow users transfer to songs from a PC to the handset.

The article notes that it is "not clear whether the iTunes phone would allow users to download songs directly from the Internet onto the phone" though most doubted this would be available at launch. Mike McGuire at Gartner said that "so-called over-the-air downloads would first require ironing out technological and music-licensing issues."

McGuire commented the "deal between Apple, Cingular and Motorola could fit in with Apple's strategy of extending its iTunes brand, while also enabling the company to get licensing revenue for having the software appear on a generation of new phones."

One has to wonder if Entner didn't honor an embargo since the article claims he was already briefed on the launch. If yes then I guess he won't be getting many pre-briefings moving forward...