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Mossberg: Apple working on cellphone, media hub

In an editorial published on Thursday, renowned Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg asserted that Apple Computer Inc. is currently working on both a media-playing cell phone and home-media hub.

Mossberg made the comments in his piece \"In Our Post-PC Era, Apple\'s Device Model Beats the PC Way,\" which contrasts Apple\'s end-to-end model of designing both the hardware and software with Microsoft\'s component model, where many companies make hardware and software that run on a standard platform.

\"In the first war between these models, the war for dominance of the personal-computer market, Microsoft\'s approach won decisively,\" Mossberg wrote. \"Aided by efficient assemblers like Dell, and by corporate IT departments employed to integrate the components, Microsoft\'s component-based Windows platform crushed Apple\'s end-to-end Macintosh platform.\"

\"But in the post-PC era we\'re in today, where the focus is on things like music players, game consoles and cellphones, the end-to-end model is the early winner,\" he continued. \"Now, Apple is working on other projects built on the same end-to-end model as the iPod: a media-playing cellphone and a home-media hub.\"

Both such products have long been rumored to be under development at Apple\'s Cupertino, Calif.-based design labs, with several Wall Street analysts predicting the company will debut an iPod-like cell phone later this year and eventually introduce a set-top-box that would act as a centralized media hub for in-home networks. However, Mossberg appears to be the first mainstream journalist to simultaneously vouch for both rumors.