Because everybody on the Web wants to speculate about an actual Apple cell phone after the deep disappointment that was the Motorola ROKR E1, there's a lot of buzz going on right now about a deal between Apple and Japanese conglomerate Softbank to produce a new phone.

But what jumps out at me in all of these stories from Gizmodo, Engadget, and Reuters is how the story doesn't live up to the headline. Let's look at the real facts here:

Apple and Softbank are working together to produce a phone which plays iTunes music.

Guess what? We already have two of those phones in the US: the ROKR and the Motorola SLVR L7. Neither are "iPhones," and there's absolutely no evidence that this one will be either. Rather, this will probably be the equivalent of a ROKR for the Japanese market: a JOKR?

Sure, it might have over-the-air downloading of iTunes music. That still doesn't make it an iPhone. It doesn't even make it an "iPod phone." It makes it a phone with an iTunes client with over-the-air downloading. Like a ROKR with a download link.

Let's also remember that phones developed for the Japanese market typically stay in Japan, never coming to any other country. And as Softbank owns a Japanese carrier, you can bet they're building this phone for themselves.

Nothing to see here. Let's move on.