WebProNews

Many are the rumors swirling about the Motorola iTunes-capable phone, and they're not just about specs.

With the FCC giving its blessing to the Motorola E790 mobile handset, it appears the long-awaited phone with Apple iTunes functionality will become a reality.

Pages of the E790 manual have appeared on sites like Apple Insider and others, depicting the phone's iTunes functions. Users can purchase songs on iTunes and transfer them from the PC to the E790.

Wireless providers may be ready to bring a reality check to users, though. Even though the iTunes software can transfer downloaded music from a PC to a phone, companies like Sprint and Verizon may not allow that to happen with services they plan to launch, according to a TechWeb article.

Those providers will only permit over-the-air downloads of songs. Reportedly, Sprint wants those downloads to cost $2 each, where an iTunes purchase costs 99 cents. That's a 100 percent markup, just for fulfilling the proverbial function of the middleman.

Providers certainly can charge for services, and deserve to profit from them. But maybe they should stop wringing their hands over the low adoption of data services by wireless consumers and take a harder look at their pricing practices instead.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.