The Motorola ROKR E1 Apple iTunes phone

Well, we've been talking it up for months, they've delayed time and time again what's arguably the biggest device launch since the PSP, but here it is. The Apple iTunes phone, the Motorola ROKR E1, will feature a 100 song capacity via random autofill (ala the shuffle) or manually loaded music via USB, a color display (duh) with album art support, stereo speakers, headphones with a mic for calls. Cingular will be the sole US carrier. Of course, if you've been following the development, none of the above should surprise you. We had the first known authentic pics of this thing way back in July, and have followed their more or less open-secret engagement with Cingular for the duration.

UPDATE: A few more details. It's going to sell for $249.99 with two-year service agreement. It's tri-band GSM/GPRS (850/1800/1900 MHz), it has a 176 x 220 pixel, 262,000 color display, weighs 3.77 ounces, is  4.25 x 1.81 x .80-inches in size, has a talk time of 9 hours, a VGA camera, and Bluetooth.

[Michael @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Wow. An announcement so big it took out the Engadget servers.

[Bart @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I'm so disappointed that this is the phone Apple is pushing. It would have been a lot more revolutionary if it had SOME of Apple's styling. At the very least it should have a glossy white finish. Or if this even looked half as cool as the RAZR that would be forgivable. But this looks like a boring phone with iTunes in it.

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Man, that phone sucks. It's a shuffle with a phone attached...

[Port80 @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

wow this is a joke ... LOL we waited so long for this crap ...

w800i all the way!

[Devo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Christ that sucks. What the hell? I've got money sitting here waiting to buy this thing and they turn out this ugly POS? WTF?

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Maybe this will blow the myth that Apple is always first or always does things better. How is this any better than a Walkman phone? Or an N91?

[Pedro @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Does anyone know when Cingular will release this phone?

[alexm @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

details already online at www.cingular.com

[baglunch @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

i saw the ipod-nano and got excited thinking it was the itunes phone. meh

[Bearcat @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Wow, an a Moto e398 with new software....what a disappointment. If Sony can get their crap in gear their W800 and W600 would wipe the floor with this phone turd. Too bad Sony will probably drop the ball. Can you say anti-climactic.

[heema @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

First Apple product that doesn't excite me at all. The design is pathetic. Nothing cool about it. It is simply bad.

[jxj @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Apple didn't make this phone. Motorola did. Apple only licensed Motorola to use iTunes. See class it wasn't that hard now was it?

[Richard @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

It's tri-bad?!?! At least they took out 900 instead of 850 so it'll work well in the states. But don't say it's a world phone when it's not quad-band. Don't tell me you can't make a quad-band antenna moto, your overhyped waif (RAZR) has one.

Same complaint extends to the Walkman W800 phone (which is 900/1800/1900), which btw, this thing is NOT better then save for itunes integration (which I don't care about).

[heema @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

First Apple product that doesn't excite me at all. The design is pathetic. Nothing cool about it. It is simply bad.

[corey @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Bah...i'm a huge apple fan and this is horrible..HORRIBLE..and to think I has saves up money to buy the ipone...well at least i dont have to worry about buying it.

[gerald` @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I think it's the first of many, and that the next RAZR (V3i?) will have more memory and probably iTunes support.

[MacMan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Beautiful. Gorgeous simplistic design. I knew Apple could do it. I'm probably going to buy a second one as backup. I'm sure Nokia, Samsung, Microsoft and the rest are just crying when they see this. All my friends will buy one too.

[alex @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Wow. that phone SUCKS.

[Candy Band @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I think the phone should have been better designed. Wireless headphnes please for the next one.

[alex @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

the phone is already available on the cingular website!

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Um, it's not an Apple phone. It's Motorola.

The "myth" of Apple is unaffected.

[Matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

It does suck, though.

[Nate @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I've been waiting for an Apple phone because I knew it would have a superior interface. Now it shows up with the worst interface in the business - Motorola's godawful operating system. Next....

[hall @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

old design, it is from E398

[djSyndrome @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Apple didn't design the phone, Motorola did. All of you whiners saying this is an 'Apple' product should get over yourselves. Apple likely provided software to Moto for accessing iTunes songs, and that's about it.

The interface looks just like my V551. Which, of course, Apple had no hand in designing.

[Jordan Merrick @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

not particularly impressive. i've owned a few moto's, even the e1000 that this is probably loosely based around, and it wasn't impressive.

anyone notice the complete lack of apple branding on the phone, and on the makemedance.com site? Plenty of mention of Cingular, but the only hint that Apple has anything to do with this is that iTunes is written on the page. No mention of Apple, or even a logo.

[is @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I could superglue my shitty nokia 8210 to the back of a ipod mini and it would be a better way for apple to have don what should have been the biggest selling gadget since the tv.

Where is the proper ipod phone, with a hard drive and clickwheel, that is black with a white rim like the pics we saw from motonow (which matched the concept design pics for the iphone). THAT WAS WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE.

Im totally gutted, almost disgusted with what this has turned out to be.

[Andreas Weidlich @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

C'mon, 100 songs? Besides, design sucks - unless you think Dells are beautiful. Nah, not interested. Clearly, the nano takes the headlines.

[King @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

so basically a L series with music playback, no expansion, tied with iTune.

i will go with sony or nokia.

so very disappointing.

[MrFloppy @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

This is so ugly �_�
I expected somethin better fom Apple.

Well, maybe I'm angry because I really wanted some kind of iPod Video with iTunes Video Store.

[Yenta @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

This is incredibly lame. MacMan, surely you jest! Simplistic design--it's an ordinary MOTOROLOA phone with a crappy verson of iTunes on the screen. I don't see how it could get any uglier.

And I still can't figure out who the heck wants a phone that plays music. What a waste of battery life on a tool that could get you out of an emergency (the phone). Hardware folks need to realize that there will never be the One device to solve all of our portable "needs."

[anticool @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

That is so crap compared to Se w800i or the upcoming nokia N91.. 100 songs on a ugly phone eh.

[Jayson Elliot @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I'm assuming Apple didn't want something from Motorola that would cut into Shuffle/Nano/Mini sales. Sure, they picked the ugliest phone possible, and the storage space is crippled.

BUT - the way to look at this is as a starting point, a proof of concept. If Cingular sees that they are making money from music sales on this, they will be likely to keep selling iTunes phones. This is not a done deal by any means, Cingular could decide to drop it whenever they like.

If Cingular is successful with this, we're sure to see Motorola and Apple pump dollars into better iTunes-capable phones. And, of course, it's no leap of imagination to see Apple decide, after a year of watching Motorola get all the booty, that they could make a better iTunes phone themselves.

So, yes, ugly phone, hardly an earth-shaking announcement - but considering the politically-charged business environment, I think of this as one small step for a phone, one giant leap towards the iPhone.

[tf @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Uhh... why don't people get it. It's not an Apple phone; it's a Motorola phone. It's not about the specific model; it's the concept of an "Apple phone": in a year it won't matter what model it is: what was introduced today was the integration of iTunes onto a mobile phone platform, the integration of iTMS onto a mobile phone with the support of at least one carrier in three of the world's major markets. This does have significance, and it has nothing to do the model of the phone or whether or not WMP Mobile is already on phones. With Apple the devices, software, and store/service are integrated, adn that will always be the story and the reason for their success.

Boy, over the next year there are gonna be a bunch of whiny WMP Mobile users pointing out that 10 million users do not use their Smartphones even if they could 2 years before iTunes phone users.

[Alex @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Why didn't the create something useful and combine the iPod nano with a decent phone that included features that people want, such as a 2MP camera, at least 4Gig storage, FM Stereo Radio and a Nokia type GUI? The phone is a compromise and the nano is pretty but lacks innovation. It could have been a phone! Anyway, go compare phone specs at http://www.fonebox.com. Always current, always truthful.

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Go to www.makemedance.com for the Cingular page.

[Josh @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Go to www.makemedance.com for the Cingular page.

[What? @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

MacMan: Wow, drank the Kool-Aid did we? This phone is a poor excuse for the hype. Apple didn't do this, Moto did. And in typical Moto fashion its late to market and below expectations. Even Sony-Ericson's somewhat flawed entry beats this.

I hate to tell all of you Apple-lovers out there, but loyalty for everybody but you has to do with useablity. As soon as there is something better out there Apple will and iTunes will be forgotten. They can't put their stamp on lame products like this when they live or die by cool.

[juliuss @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

DUMB. If I'm going to pay that much for an apple phone, I want it to have some apple sex appeal. This is CRAPTACULAR.

[Mark @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Can anyone answer these questions:

Will it work with iSync?
How 'bout e-mail?
What's the price w/o a 2-yr contract?

[MacMan @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Clearly you guys don't know great design when you see it. It's elegant and simple. Go buy your Dodge Durango's and Dell Optiplus's and see if I care.

[Shane @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Hmm...no EDGE, no QVGA screen, no megapixel camera. So it's pretty much a entry-level phone with iTunes support. Yawn.

[John T. Haller @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

And the world let out a collective yawn. An uninspired design from Motorola... with just a simple license of the iTunes connectivity to give it the features of the shiffle. And pair that with it being an "exclusive" of the worst-rated cell phone provider in the US... can't imagine anyone rushing out for this one.

[AFD @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Ugly. The K750 / W800 definitely has it beat as far as style is concerned.

[Jayson Elliot @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

If you go to www.makemedance.com and watch the ads, take a good look at the phone the girl in the first ad is using.
If you pause the commercial when she's going past the mirror and answers the phone, you get the best view of any of the ads.
It looks basically like an iPod - silver back, white front, and she's got a very stylish pair of white earbuds with an integrated mic.
Not the ugly MechaMoto phone they're actually selling with a gray cord and orange earbuds.

Looks like, when they shot the commercial, they may have actually been thinking about making an iTunes phone that actually looked like an Apple product.

[Conrad Quilty-Harper @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

WTF!?!?!?! $249 DOES NOT = �249!!!

Damn this is the rip-off of the century.

[mrtpitythefoo @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

sucks.
jobs, get your head out of your ass.

perhaps he will, and they will have an itunes version of the n91...complete with apple-style looks. maybe?

[David Thompson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Seem to have eliminated the scrollwheel from earlier leaked photos, that's a shame.

[dan g @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

I hope they sell lots of these, cuz I have a feeling the next version won't suck.

[jussi m?nen @ Dec 19th 2005 1:05AM]

Very crappy indeed. Eventough it's not a Apple product, it's still connected to Apple in a way. I'll go for Nokia N91. It's not perfect, but far better product than this..