Spotted this Forbes piece today, which looks like the real thing. Upon close reading, there are a few interesting points:
- Nothing leads to believe that "the phone" will be Apple-branded.
- There is a lot of emphasis on the previous joint Apple/Motorola announcement that they would aim at putting iTunes Music Store content on it (therefore bypassing mobile operators altogether).
- There's only a slight hint at ease of use (which may well refer to ease of putting iTunes content on it).
So, the most likely outcome from all this iPhone mess is a Motorola-branded phone with an explicit Apple/iTunes tie-in, announced at the next MacExpo (January 11th). Not, like Russell wished for, an "Apple Phone".
I hope I'm wrong, because everything points to the UI sucking as much as any other Motorola phone.
(sigh)
I hope Apple doesn't stop here and that SonyEricsson steps up to the plate soon (they already have AAC playback and, what's more, a much better user interface), so that we have more options. Unless the phone UI is completely done by Apple, I'm not even going to consider picking up one.