So Long, ROKR, We Hardly Knew Ye

from the didn't-take-long dept

Just a little more than four months after its less-than-impressive debut, the Motorola ROKR iTunes phone has disappeared from Cingular's web site. There's some speculation that it's got something to do with today's Macworld keynote from Steve Jobs, but some Cingular employees and dealers have said the carrier has called the ROKR's end of life, meaning they won't sell it any longer. The news comes as little surprise, given the way Cingular slashed the phone's price and early reports that the phone wasn't selling. Jobs could announce a couple of new Motorola models that have iTunes, but as long as they have the arbitrary 100-song limit of the ROKR, it's hard to see them being too successful. For its part, Motorola seems to be moving on from the somewhat rocky Apple partnership, announcing an updated ROKR at CES that's actually a pretty decent music handset. Shame they're keeping the ROKR name, though, since it delivers the wrong kind of brand recognition.
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  • identicon
    Chris H, 10 Jan 2006 @ 10:54am

    No Subject Given

    I think most everyone saw that one coming a mile away.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    eric lin, 10 Jan 2006 @ 1:00pm

    actually, it's just the opposite

    so, it turns out that the rokr e1 is too popular. seriously, i know it's hard to believe. but the reason it's not on the web is that cingular is out of stock. it has not been EOL'd. the e1 will be back on the web by friday, according to motorola. this popularity also matches what analysts have told me today. they've said interest in the e1 has been growing since the holidays.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jon Gales, 10 Jan 2006 @ 2:34pm

    Eric's right

    I pinged Cingular about this and it's not EOL. Somehow all of the million's in PR paid off, the E1 is selling.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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