Steve Jobs on iTunes Phone and Carriers - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Steve Jobs on iTunes Phone and Carriers

AlwaysOn posts a transcript of an interview with Steve Jobs from this year's D: All Things Digital conference.

The transcript provides insights from Steve Jobs about his opinion of the current cell phone market and Apple's positioning.

Of note, the first generation of Motorola iTunes enabled phones will simply provide an iTunes music player interface and allow you to transfer songs from your Mac or PC. The iTunes music store will not be directly available on the phone itself, so songs can not be purchased wirelessly. Jobs notes, "Maybe we'll do some over the air stuff later, but we don't think that that's going to be where the action is."

Jobs goes on to criticize wireless carrier's current plans to charge $2-$3/song on their own music networks and doesn't think it will work:

Well, it's going to be a lousy buying experience, and the music is going to cost two to three times as much as if you buy it on your computer. It's hard to imagine that customers are that stupid.

When questioned about the lifespan of the iPod and why the functionality won't eventually move into the cell phone, Jobs answers, "I'm going to leave the answer to our actions in the future"

An earlier transcript interview of Steve Jobs details reasons he feels a Video iPod would not work.

Related Forums: iPod touch and iPod, Mac Apps

Popular Stories

Apple WWDC25 iOS 26 CarPlay Light mode 250609

Six Popular iPhone Apps Now Available on CarPlay

Thursday May 14, 2026 9:10 am PDT by
Apple's CarPlay system for accessing iPhone apps on a vehicle's dashboard screen has received six popular apps in recent weeks: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Grok, Google Meet, WhatsApp, and the indie artist streaming platform Audiomack. Make sure you have the latest version of each app and they will automatically appear on CarPlay. ChatGPT Starting with iOS 26.4, CarPlay supports voice-based...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Apple Card Promo to Offer Free AirPods Pro 3

Friday May 15, 2026 8:59 am PDT by
Starting as early as next week, customers who sign up for an Apple Card at Apple's retail stores in the U.S. will receive $249 cash back when they purchase AirPods Pro 3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The promotion has yet to be officially announced by Apple, so exact terms and conditions are not available at this time. AirPods Pro 3 are priced at $249 in the U.S., so customers who...
ipad mini 7 blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Thursday May 14, 2026 5:08 am PDT by
According to the latest rumors, Apple is close to launching its next-generation iPad mini. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code...