Elanso

The Financial Times today reports that Apple has submitted a patent for a device that combines a mobile media player with a mobile phone.  I've been saying for a long time that in terms of podcasting it's the mobile phone market that's the big opportunity and this is clearly not lost on Steve Jobs.  As the FT says:

Apple has sold more than 70m iPods since the device first launched in 2001. That number pales in comparison with the potential market for mobile phones, however. Analysts expect more than 1bn mobile handsets will be sold in 2007.

It'll be fascinating to see what the design gurus at Apple can do with the usability and looks of your humble mobile.  Despite all the bells and whistles and design skills of Nokia and others, I always feel that mobiles haven't reached the design sophistication and usability and let's face it sheer bloody cool factor of something like an iPod.

I, of course, am studiously anti-cool - a kind of technology Jarvis Cocker ... so however nice the Apple iPhone (good job I've trademarked 'iPhone') looks, I'll not be buying one!