Also in the WSJ today, and also on the subject of Apple, comes an article entitled Adding music players to cellphones won't be iPod killer some think. It's a fairly succinct analysis of why iPod is going to be tough to beat - and fortunately, it's one of the articles they've deigned to give away free, so I can link to it.
Handset makers and wireless carriers think they have one big advantage in competing with Apple's hit digital-music player: Cellphones are already in most pockets and purses. Moreover, companies have successfully added functions to cellphones -- witness the camera phone. Could a built-in MP3 player become the next gotta-have-it feature?
A host of companies are betting that it will. Motorola, Samsung Electronics, Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications and Nokia are all chasing the prospect of digital-music riches, with new music-capable cellphones expected later this year.
But it's far too early to write Apple's digital-music epitaph: Mr. Jobs still has a number of advantages that may prove more formidable than his challengers imagine.
Those reasons? Well, Apple "may have the tech world's best consumer brand", while consumers are notoriously fickle with their mobile phones.
Secondly, the jack-of-all-trades approach could be a serious design problem (though that's never really stopped people using camera phones).
Then there's the question of how you get songs from your computer to your phone, and whether handset makers can actually make enough cash out of the enterprise.
Personally, I think the product tends to aim either too high (very expensive phones for technogeeks who will already have iPod) or too low (no functionality, no memory). Why can't they manage the middle ground?
If Apple - and other consumer electronics manufacturers - can produce a tiny, lightweight flash player with significant memory for around £70, then why can't mobile phone manufacturers simply build a similar thing into a handset?
And no, I don't mean one of these.
