Opinion seems divided on the long awaited iTunes phone, officially launched earlier this week and on sale in the US as of yesterday. Some reckon the Motorola phone with iTunes inbuilt lacks the cool look that makes the iPod attractive which, combined with the functional limitations the phone offers compared with an actual music player, makes it a pretty unattractive proposition, especially given the price tag. However, others say the combination of Apple and Motorola could prove to be a perfect match.
That said, most of the experts the BBC spoke to seemed to fall in the former more negative camp. John Jackson, an analyst with the Yankee Group, commented: "It doesn't have the emotive cachet that the Razr or the iPod has. When you whip this out in the bar, nobody's going to say, 'That's a cool device.'"
Anthony Ball of mobile consultancy OneCompare meanwhile, commented: "I'm not convinced that consumers will be ready to fork out £200 for a mobile phone handset as there are phones out there offering similar capabilities at a much lower cost through competitive tariffs. Apple will need to team up with a competitive network provider to add value to the product," he said.