Apple is usually a strong presence at digital music and mobile conferences, even though its executives rarely attend.
The was the case at 3GSM, where the iPhone hovered over the proceedings like a heavy cloud. The converged handheld, expected in June of this year, is expected to change the mobile music market considerably. But Apple is entering a crowded market for music-focused mobiles, and unlike the pre-iPod landscape, this is an advanced playing field. And in Barcelona, major manufacturers were tossing a mix of new models into the ring, part of an ongoing evolutionary chain.
That included Samsung, a company that already has a number of sleek multimedia phones and MP3 players in the market. The latest round comes from the Ultra Edition II Series, a lineup that contains an incredibly thin U100. Each phone is stuffed with non-voice features like a 3 megapixel camera, high-speed web connectivity, and broad multimedia capabilities. That includes a number of music-related capabilities, an increasingly-important aspect in most new devices. “Each handset combines extensive music player capabilities with super sound quality and equipped with a digital power amp developed by Bang and Olufsen,” the company explained in recent description. The devices also feature a dedicated music interface, PC synchronization software, and storage levels that approach 70MB.
