The ROKR E1 | The Apple’s Phone Before the iPhone (2005)
In 2007, Apple revolutionized the smartphone industry. Practically everybody today knows about the iPhone. But did you know that 2 years before the launch of the highly anticipated Apple phone, the Cupertino company was working on another phone? One that was manufactured by Motorola? It's known as the iTunes Phone. And if you've never heard of it, there's a good reason for that.
2005-12-27 19:00:00 - Apple
ROKR E1
Launched on September 7, 2005, in San Francisco, California, the E1 is the first phone to be integrated with Apple's iTunes music player, the next phone being the first iPhone in 2007. The phone had been widely expected, with technology sites reporting on collaborations between Motorola and Apple as far back as December 2004.
The ROKR E1 is a re-badged Motorola E398 candybar style phone (it was originally called the E790) with Apple-licensed technology to play back iTunes Music Store purchased music. It features a music player with an interface similar to that of Apple's iPod music players. Since hardware on Motorola E398 and ROKR E1 phones are the same, it is possible to crossflash Motorola ROKR E1's firmware to Motorola E398 using phone flashing software like flash & backup.
While the phone equipped an upgradeable 512 MB microSD memory card (Max. 1 GB), its firmware allowed only up to 100 songs to be loaded at any time.[2] The limit hurt the ROKR's appeal. Many users also discovered that transferring music to the phone was slow compared to dedicated players, due to lack of support for Hi-Speed USB, and the E1 lacked wireless transfer. The Rokr was also criticized for being too much like the preceding E398. As a result, the Rokr E1 sold below expectations despite a high-profile marketing campaign.
Because of the iPod Nano unveiling on the same day, relations between Motorola and Apple were strained and Motorola CEO Ed Zander later accused Apple of purposely undercutting the Rokr.
The Rokr E1 was replaced by the E2, which lacked iTunes support and was superseded by the iTunes-enabled SLVR L7.