Rumour has been rife for sometime that Apple deliberately spiked the Motorola PLOPR ROKR, ensuring that it was a poor product. Now a new rumour has surfaced, suggesting that the reason for this was not so that Apple could produce an even better iTunes mobiled phone all by themselves, but rather so that consumers would think that MP3 playing mobile phones are pants, and the only good way to play MP3 music on the move is with an iPod.

 

That's the theory being proposed by theappleblog anyway, and given the fact that it was Apple who forced the 100 tune limit onto Motorola, and then released the 1,000 tune iPod Nano at the same time as the ROKR was launched, there may be some truth to it.  It's quite obvious that MP3 players will become entirely absorbed by mobile phones sooner or later, leaving Apple, with a hefty chunk its profit deriving solely from the iPod, dangerously exposed. The longer the shelf-life they can give the iPod, the more healthy their company will remain. But let's just hope they meet the challenge with good technology, such as a really good iTunes phone, rather than trying to stem the tide with a poor product. Don't fight the mobile phone world, Apple: embrace it.