APPLE JUICES MOTOROLA PHONES

This one gives new meaning to the phrase “dial up.”

Starting in the first half of next year, Motorola will begin selling cell phones equipped with a slimmed-down version of Apple’s popular iTunes music software, allowing the phones to store and play back up to a dozen songs, according to the companies.

"Wouldn't it be great if you could take a dozen of your favorite songs with you on your phone? "We thought it would be great if together Motorola and Apple could give consumers a small taste of what this digital music revolution is about," Apple chief Steve Jobs said during a video conference announcing the deal ahead of today’s annual Motorola analysts meeting.

Details of the new alliance weren’t revealed, but Jobs told the Wall Street Journal that he believes Apple will benefit from the consumer exposure to iTunes the music software’s presence on Motorola phones will bring. Such exposure "whets people's appetites for iPods," Jobs told the paper.

For its part, Motorola will gain the advantage of having yet another function to sell the increasingly funtion-crazed cell phone-buying public, which has already bought into the musical ring tones, organizers, color video games and digital cameras already available on many handsets.

The Motorola agreement represents the first time Apple will allow music purchased from its iTunes Music Store to be loaded onto a player other than its iPod. But since the phones will be running Apple software, the argument could be made that the Motorola phones, while playing music, will still be Apple devices.

Yesterday, Real Networks announced Harmony, a software package designed to allow music purchased from its online store to be placed on iPods and other players including those using Microsoft’s Windows Media digital rights management. Harmony was developed without Apple’s cooperation, and it is still unclear how Apple will react.

Apple has sold over three million iPods since the device’s launch in 2001. By comparison, cell phone manufacturers expect to sell more than 550 million phones this year.