No, Seriously, They Really Mean It This Time

Rumors have been swirling for several days that the Apple/Motorola iTunes phone will finally be announced next week. Given the device's track record of about half a dozen supposed launch events, but never the actual launch, this rumor wasn't getting a lot of attention, but then The Wall Street Journal reported that Cingular has agreed to sell the phone. This, of course, is several months after Motorola had said the delays had nothing to do with carriers balking at how the iTunes business model cut them out of the loop, even though it's been pretty clear that's been an issue all along. The WSJ says Cingular will have the device on sale by Christmas, but it looks like it will be too little, too late, particularly if it only holds 100 songs. Apparently Apple doesn't want to cannibalize Shuffle sales with the iTunes phone, so they're going to limit its functionality. Maybe Steve Jobs has been hanging around mobile operators a little too much... Update: Forget 100 songs, Forbes says the phone's software has been capped to recognize just 25 songs.

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