iPod Rokr phone on the rocks
p2p news / p2pnet: Nano ‘faulty product’ lawsuits aren’t the only problems Steve Jobs has.
The number of people returning the Rokr E1 iPod phone hybrid phone, launched by Apple in September, is six times higher than normal, says PC Pro, quoting American Technology Report.
“We got off to a little bit of a rough start,” Motorola chief executive Ed Zander says, according to PC Pro.
“People were looking for an iPod and that’s not what it is. We may have missed the marketing message there.”
Zander, “acknowledged that Motorola has failed to explain that the phone stores fewer songs than even the smallest iPod, but sells for the same price as an iPod nano.
The phone holds 100 songs and costs $250 with a two-year contract from Cingular and the iPod Nano, holds about ten times more songs for the same money.
When Jobs unveiled the phone, “from the stage of the Moscone Center in San Francisco after 15 months in development” Madonna joined the intro via telecast from London, says Bloomberg News, going on:
“Madonna is also featured in a television ad for the Rokr. She’s crammed into a phone booth with musicians such as Little Richard and an actor portraying Beethoven. She shouts ‘Biggie! No!’ when the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. approaches the booth. As the commercial ends, a voice-over intones, ‘A hundred tunes in your phone, baby’.”
Apple says, “putting your music on the ROKR is as easy as syncing to Motorola ROKR iTunes, the world’s best digital jukebox. Just connect the ROKR to your Mac or PC, then choose the songs you want to sync or let iTunes choose them for you – autofilling your phone with a random selection from your iTunes music library.”
But the program has ‘compatibility bugs,’ American Technology Report analyst Albert Lin is reported to have said.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
faulty product – Angry nano owners sue Apple, October 23, 2005
PC Pro – Motorola admits the ROKR doesn’t ROLL, October 24, 2005
Bloomberg News – Motorola’s ITunes Phone May Flop as Handset-Return Rates Soar, October 21, 2005
October 24th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
Well, samsung is offering a phone with 3gig storage. Thats more like it
October 24th, 2005 at 5:13 pm
Why the hell was there so much hype over the ROKR anyway? Motorola already had released an MP3 phone before the ROKR came out – the V635. The V635 is cheaper, has a much better feature set, and no stupid limitation on the number of songs that you can store.
Anyone who bought a ROKR is a fool who has been conned by the Apple marketing hype.
October 24th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
“Why the hell was there so much hype over the ROKR anyway?”
You answered your own question.
Marketing Hype
It has the magical iPod brand affixed. It MUST be good. Or so they were lead (like sheep) to believe…
October 25th, 2005 at 2:39 am
This is what happens when you let the sales/marketing ppl have more say in what your company does than anyone else. I’d bet money that the development team warned them it wasn’t done yet. I’d bet more money that production told them things weren’t completely right with it.
Sales/marketing of course doesn’t give a shit. After it’s been sold it’s no longer their problem. Hell the phone company i used to work for doesn’t allow customers to speak to the sales ppl after the phone has been delivered. From then on, it’s a customer service issue.
If i had 1 cent for every 10 calls i’ve overheard featuring “angry customer claiming that Sales person lied/misled/didn’t completely inform them” i’d be wealthier than bill gates. It’s the single biggest issue customer service agents have to deal with. I’m pretty sure it accounts for about 30% of all calls to that department.
Does management give a shit? Of course not, that’s what the 2 year contracts are for. To keep them locked in, and ideally convince them to put the phone in a cupboard or shelf somewhere and never use it. The minimum monthly spend will pay for the phone and make the company a profit. If the customer doesn’t burden the network with any calls, all the better.
October 25th, 2005 at 3:50 pm
I’d speculate that the reason people are returning the phones is primarily due to the AWFUL Motorola user interface and not a lack of song capacity. And I’m not referring to just the interface to play songs, but the convoluted machinations you have to go through to do anything with the phone. It’s ridiculous, you have to push six keys to do the simplest function.
If Apple develops their own cell phone, count me in. Motorola makes very dependable phones, but their ease of use leaves a lot to be desired.
October 26th, 2005 at 8:55 am
“Hell the phone company i used to work for doesn’t allow customers to speak to the sales ppl after the phone has been delivered. From then on, it’s a customer service issue.”
Oh so you work for Verizon? Yeah they DO suck & The sales people DO LIE, but they do have the best coverage.