I have to tell ya, I don’t care about claims that a new phone having music downloading capability. I already have a MP3 player that I am very happy with. Besides as this article points out, the iPod-equipped ROKR leaves a lot of us wondering if we are being taken for a ride.

Jobs’ revelation that Apple will replace its most popular iPod with a newer, sleeker model essentially upstaged his expected news about the new iPod-equipped phone from Motorola Inc.

Yet the question of whether Apple (AAPL: news, chart, profile) should partner with handset makers, as it did with Motorola on the ROKR phone, or build its own product isn’t about to go away.

That’s because the digital music explosion that Apple started with the iPod has its long-time rival, Microsoft Corp., as well as the cell phone makers themselves, aggressively pursuing the market for portable music players.

In short — the handset makers want to add music downloading capabilities to their phones, and Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) is eager to provide them with the software. See full story.

Whether Apple’s strategy to just put software on someone else’s phone — rather than build its own — will be enough to defend its market-leading position is the subject of fierce debate among analysts.

“If Apple pursues more relationships like the Motorola one, it will have missed an opportunity,” said Gene Munster, a Piper Jaffray analyst and long-time Apple bull who rates the company’s shares “outperform.” [Read the rest]