GigaOM

Who really prevented the iTunes phone from being released? Motorola blamed the finicky Steve Jobs and his marketing approach for the delay. Business Week says it was the carriers who might be behind the delay. “Behind the clash are two very different views of the future of music on mobile phones. Motorola and Apple would let customers put any digital tune they already own on their phones for free,” they write.

When customers buy songs from Apple’s iTunes music store, they pay 99¢ a tune. But Apple only gets about 4¢ of that, after paying the record company and others, says researcher Strategy Analytics. Apple says iTunes is only a breakeven business

The more I see it, the more I feel it is nothing but pure unadulterated greed at work. As the good book says, greed and envy are two cardinal sins which assure you one way ticket to nowhere. I wrote about this earlier - Battling for iTunes phone. Everyone in this business is setting themselves up to fail in this business. Multitude of stores, phones with terrible user interfaces, greedy record labels and limited selection of music - all that will add-up to a very cranky consumer. For handset makers - don’t bundle two-dollar headphones with a $400 phone - that is just cheap. [Good Summary over at MocoNews as well.]

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