I think you are spot on - looking back at all this its really interesting -like what on earth was Apple thinking when the Motorola ROKR came out?
>> 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.
Apple probably saw it as an opportunity for free iTunes and Nano advertising.
They (whoever ‘they’ is) caused the phone to be terrible even though it had the iTunes name on it. So Jobs got revenge, as he always did if he could.
Perhaps they agreed to a partnership and didn’t realize that Motorola and the carriers would ruin it? Or perhaps it was some sort of “we’ll do this to learn some of the business” kind of a thing?
I’d love to know more of the story behind how it started and it’s development.