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Back in May, I posted an item here agreeing with Bill Gates' assessment that cell phones will eventually displace digital media players like the iPod.

That post was greeted with derision, most aimed at the current limitations of cell phones (battery life key among the reasons for dismissing the notion). Some of the posts pointed to the fact that Apple and Motorola were working on an iTunes phone, which only supports the argument that phones and media players will converge. (I don't care who does it.)
An item in Business Week Online today notes that Apple and Motorola are ready to launch the iTunes phone after a delay of about four months.

But they're not alone.

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle highlighted efforts by Nokia, Samsung, and PalmOne to produce cell phones that will accommodate digital music. The article notes that even XM Satellite Radio is working to let people listen over their phones. Samsung's phone will offer a 3MB hard drive.

What's next will be the ability to integrate a podcatcher into these phones that let you retrieve podcasts wherever WiFi or a high-speed cellular connection is available. I have no doubt it's coming, along with solutions to the battery-life issue and any other obstacles that currently exist. Technology, after all, is all about overcoming obstacles.

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Shel Holtz is principal of Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.

As a professional communicator, Shel also writes the blog a shel of my former self.