MacRumors.com

In a story found on Forbes.com today, Apple and Motorola have admitted they are working on a joint-venture phone to support a mobile version of iTunes.

"We've said we have something coming on this in the first half of 2005 and we're definitely on schedule for that. Hopefully you'll be able to see more about it soon," says Eddy Cue, vice president in charge of applications at Apple.

The coalition of Apple and Motorola was announced in July at a press event by Motorola, presented by Steve Jobs himself via a video link to the conference. Jobs tried to be clear the phone would not compete with the iPod, but would be more of an iPod accessory.

Details are relatively non-existent at the moment, but what's known is it will sport a fully-functioning bluetooth connection to allow it to work with both PCs and Macs, and a pricetag that should keep the phone in a competitive bracket, not at the higher ($500+) end.

Recently, a page 2 post pointed to a "sleek and sexy" Apple-branded phone with USB and media card slots being tested by Motorola executives.

On a side note, the iPhone (if that's what it will be called) has been the 'electrified third rail' of the mac rumor community for years, with initial speculations going back to 2001 and before.