The newest ROKR in town

An iPod music player and a mobile phone are rolled into one - but you get only 100 songs, writes Brian Boyd.

An iPod music player and a mobile phone are rolled into one - but you get only 100 songs, writes Brian Boyd.

You might as well learn how to pronounce it properly now - because it is all a certain section of the population will be talking about for the next few weeks. It rhymes with "soccer", is pronounced "rocker", but is spelt, in that infuriating mobile phone text language, as "ROKR".

Unveiled in Europe during the week, and available in Irish shops from Monday, the ROKR is an iPod music player and a mobile phone combined. Considering the huge spend on individual iPods and mobile phones over the last two years, the ROKR would appear to be a certainty for commercial success, but already the battle lines have been drawn between those who "so love it" and those who "so hate it".

An MP3 player (which is what the iPod is) and a mobile phone combined is nothing new to the market - there have been half a dozen different models available for the past year or so. What makes this different is the ubiquitous popularity of the iPod - the device accounts for around 80 per cent of all MP3 player sales.

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It's long been rumoured that the Apple computer company was planning an "iPhone" to put alongside its existing portfolio of fashionable gadgetry. Since the iPod was launched in 2001 it has sold more than 21 million units worldwide. Apple's leap into the mobile phone market has come in conjunction with the Motorola.

What you get with the ROKR is a standard mobile phone complete with a pre-loaded version of Apple's iTunes music store. This allows people to store 100 songs on their phone. The phone also has built-in stereo speakers, a camera, a colour screen for viewing album artwork (important to some people) and stereo headphones for better listening. If you are listening to it while a telephone call comes through, the music cuts off to allow you to answer the call. It sells for $249 (€204) in the US, but prices here will vary according to the package you opt for.

The USP (unique selling point) is you now no longer need to carry both an iPod and a mobile with you. However, the ROKR is far from being a standalone iPod. Seasoned iPod users will find the Rokr's 100-song limit to be a bit on the archaic side. And the 100 songs you can put on the phone have to be first downloaded from the iTunes music store on your computer and then transferred to your phone. Because of the strange laws that mobile phone companies operate under, it is impossible to use your phone to access the iTunes music store to find songs you want. You can't convert the music on your phone into a ring-tone (this is because of copyright laws) and you can't ring someone on the phone and play them the music you are listening to.

Given that Apple is involved - and it does pride itself on its style - the ROKR has plenty of shiny optional accessories, including "pink, purple, blue, green or clear protective tubes and armbands".

Considering that even the iPod mini can hold 1,500 songs, the song capacity here is meagre. However, those who are happy with just 100 songs will find the ROKR a handy dual device.

Apple boss Steve Jobs predicts the ROKR will be "the most successful music phone out there by far". Because Apple dominates the MP3 market, and because the company has built up a massive brand-loyal following, it is expected the ROKR will do very well. And as newer models of the phone are rolled out, the song capacity will increase.

The phone, though, will have to do battle in an already crowded marketplace.

For those who prefer a much larger song capacity, the Nokia N91 dual mobile phone and MP3 player can store up to 3,000 songs. Other dual devices, such as the O2 XM, the Orange SPV and Sony Ericsson's W800I, have already established themselves in the growing mobile phone/MP3 sector.

When Steve Jobs launched the Rokr in the US earlier this month , he referred to the new device as a "Motorola phone with iTunes". Reading between the lines, what he was getting at is the fact that none of the current dual devices allows the consumer to download a song directly from the phone. Such a capability would greatly enhance the appeal of these devices. When pressed about plans for an "Apple phone" that would be able to do everything a stand-alone iPod can currently do, he replied: "Who knows? I can't talk about that here."