| This month Verizon customers celebrated the launch | | | | us in listening to music in more places, it also allows us |
| of the Chocolate 3. The newest phone in the series | | | | to talk on the phone and have the speakerphone |
| comes as a flip instead of a slide, but it did add a | | | | broadcast into the car stereo for handsfree use. |
| few extra top-of-the-line features that blow most | | | | Worldwide Charm |
| other phones out of the water. | | | | While a brand new concept for phones in the US, |
| One such feature is the inclusion of 1 GB of internal | | | | Asia and Europe have already been making plenty of |
| memory. This large amount of space is unique to any | | | | phones with this same feature. For good reason -- it |
| US phone that is not called the iPhone. The other | | | | just makes sense! |
| feature is a built-in FM transmitter. | | | | Consumers are already paying $300+ just for a |
| What the heck is that? | | | | portable media player such as the Zune or the iPod, |
| What FM Transmitters do | | | | and another $100+ for a phone that includes similar |
| When my wife uses our iPod in the car, she carries a | | | | capabilities. Why not put the two together? |
| FM transmitter with her. Instead of having a direct | | | | Many new phones worldwide are coming out with |
| "line in" to plug our iPod into the stereo, we plug the | | | | the capability of holding up to 8 GB or more of |
| transmitter into the cigarette lighter and tell it to | | | | external memory. So instead of shelling out $300 for |
| broadcast the music from the iPod at a frequency | | | | a whole new media player, shell out $60 for a 8 GB |
| that's not taken up by a radio station already. | | | | media card to put in your phone. |
| Let's use 98.5 as an example. Since there are no | | | | In the coming years 8 GB will turn into 16, and 16 will |
| radio stations already broadcasting at that frequency | | | | turn into 32. It is inevitable that the chips will just |
| in our area, we have no chance of interference. | | | | keep expanding in capability to compete with rival |
| Conventional FM transmitters broadcast a few | | | | companies. And when this happens, I predict portable |
| meters, just far enough for your car's antenna to | | | | media players will fade away into the darkness as |
| pick up. Thus we can listen to our iPod without | | | | they get replaced by a tiny chip that can do the |
| worries and without someone else listening to our | | | | same thing. |
| new radio station. The concept is the same for | | | | FM Transmitter = Innovative? |
| built-in FM transmitters in mobile phones. | | | | This is where the FM transmitter comes into play. |
| Why Not Have Zunes in our Phones? | | | | Having it built into the phone itself gives the |
| How convenient would it be to use our phones as | | | | consumer another incentive to purchase the phone |
| music players also? But few people do because most | | | | and a media card to put in it. Viola -- the consumer is |
| people have music players already, with tons more | | | | now carrying one device instead of two! |
| memory than our phones. So what's the point of | | | | Since such a basic concept could conceivably change |
| having a music player in the phone then? | | | | the entire market for mobile phones, I will say yes, |
| Exactly the point. So let's boost the amount of | | | | the FM transmitter is an innovative concept. |
| available memory, and make it easy to listen to our | | | | Hands-down. The real question is whether or not the |
| music in cars and other convenient places. | | | | consumers feel the same way. |
| The FM transmitter does that. Not only does it assist | | | | |