Apple and Motorola thought of launching the iPod phone, but from this BusinessWeek article, it looks like the Cellular network lobby was against it. Clever strategists at Microsoft took a different route to connect Zune owners to Market Place, the Internet, which prompted Apple to retaliate with a wi-fi enabled iPod. Microsoft’s roll out plan for Zune could be the same as that of Xbox360 with Japan being an exception. Zune is expected to be sold in Canada, Latin America and Australia in Spring 2007 and in EU and Japan for the Holiday of 2007, hopefully an upgraded version.
However, in India, the teenagers and the gizmo savvy folks are not looking for a separate entertainment device. They want a Triple Function Mobile – Phone, Music (FM, MP3, MMS, etc) and Digital Camera. It does make sense to have a Triple function Mobile rather than 3 separate devices. IMHO, no phone company understands the Indian consumer better than Nokia. You ask for it, and they launch in no time – Nokia N series Music edition. No doubt, this response has earned them a place in the Guinness Book of Records for selling the highest number of Mobile Handsets on any given day, 400,000 pre-diwali.