RSSVerizon Launches iPod-Like Phone
By Ed Oswald | Published July 31, 2006, 12:41 PM
Verizon made major changes to its VCAST Music service on Monday, including the elimination of the $15 monthly fee to use the service and the addition of MP3 file support. The changes come in support of the new iPod-like "Chocolate" phone from LG.
The Chocolate appears much like the iPod, complete with a click wheel that is very similar to that on the iconic device from Apple. The phone will be available for $199.99 USD, with a $50 mail in rebate through Verizon stores, and $149.99 USD through the company's Web site. Both promotional prices would require a two-year agreement.
The phone includes a speaker and dedicated music keys in a "slider" design. In addition to the Chocolate handset, Verizon said it would offer a line of accessories, including a 2GB Micro SD card that would retail for $99.99 USD.
Songs through VCAST can be downloaded to the phone over-the-air for $1.99 USD, or copied from a Windows XP PC for as little as 99 cents. Purchases from the phone include two song versions, one for the phone and another for the PC. With the new MP3 functionality, users would also be able to transfer their own compatible music collection at no charge.
"With the new V CAST Music pay-as-you-go pricing structure, Verizon Wireless' millions of customers with V CAST Music-enabled phones can now call their music whenever the urge strikes, giving them easy access to mobile music," Verizon digital media and marketing vice president John Harrobin said in the announcement.
Verizon has leveraged its size to market itself to musical artists as a new distribution platform for their music. The Fugees, Shakira, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Sean Paul and Nelly Furtado have all used the service to offer exclusive content to a large audience. Verizon claims this audience is more "engaged" than that of television or radio.
"V CAST Music lets artists get their music in the palms of their fans' hands quickly -- while driving traditional music sales rather than cannibalizing them -- and lets their fans choose the ways they want to personalize their music experience," Harrobin continued.
Intergrating phone, MP3 player, voice recorder, radio, contact list into a sleek easy to use package is what I'm looking for. The race is heating up!
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You know I just cant see what all the excitement is over a phone that plays music. I can see why kids in grade school would like it. I just have no use for it. I wish the PDA/Sidekick types of phones were sleeker.
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people see an ipod in one hand and a phone in the other. they see a similar size between the two so they figure that people must want one device that can handle both.
i think they're right.
i personally do not see the wild excitement for why someone would want to bash text into a 2.1" screen with their thumbs.
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I hope this phone is better than SLVR L7, if it's anything like L7, avoid it like plague. The L7 function wide suck, sound quality is poor too.
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Now all they have to do is market the crap out of it.
Which they are doing. I saw TV ads for it durring both the Champ Car and F1 races yesterday.
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oooooooooo...niiiiiice!
:-)
besides being a music player, i wonder how good it is at being a phone.
maybe apple should start integrating cell phones into their ipods.
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pretty soon eh? which part of the story confused you exactly? "Wild speculation" in "Wild speculation: iPhone to launch in August?" or the rampant use of sarcasm in the body of the story?
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Not exactly a fair reply to that poster. What part of Steve Job's history of secrecy confused you? You should know darn well, that rumors of an Apple phone that have existed almost as long as the iPod itself, will continue, up to the day it is actually released, at which time no one will have known it was actually going to be released. No doubt they have been working on a possible phone, but personally I think the wide screen ipod video is more likely this year. I believe they will try to 'squash' Microsofts iPod killer before moving on to a phone. Of course, you just never know with Apple. Remember all the nay-sayers about Apple allowing Windows to be run on intel macs. It was within what, the first year that Apple announced and released Boot Camp (beta). I wouldn't be so sarcastic toward the possibilities, if I were you.
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