“Microsoft Corp.’s plans to sell a portable media player is likely to steal market share in the short term from partners iRiver, Creative and others, not iPod-creator Apple Computer Inc., experts say,” Antone Gonsalves reports for TechWeb.
“The Redmond, Wash., company on Friday said it planned to sell this year hardware and software under the brand name Zune that would compete with Apple’s iPod and iTunes. In entering the market, Microsoft has shown its displeasure with Apple’s continued dominance of the digital player market. Experts say the Cupertino, Calif., computer maker’s iPod accounts for more than two thirds of the players sold worldwide,” Gonsalves reports.
“The biggest losers initially, however, are expected to be iRiver, Creative and other device manufacturers that have failed to deliver a player using Microsoft’s media platform that can compete with the iPod,” Gonsalves reports.
Gonsalves reports, “‘If Microsoft is successful, the expectation is that it will initially hurt existing partners more than Apple,’ Joe Wilcox, analyst for JupiterResearch, said Monday. Michael Gartenberg, another JupiterResearch analyst, agreed, saying Microsoft is unlikely to find many disgruntled iPod users. ‘We certainly haven’t seen a whole lot of complaints from that quarter,’ Gartenberg said. ‘When you have such a dominant position as Apple, it usually means you’ve done something right.'”
Full article here.
Amazing. Who’da thunk Microsoft’s “partners” could actually become even bigger losers?
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If you dance with the devil, you’re gonna get burned.
“Who’da thunk Microsoft’s “partners” could actually become even bigger losers? “
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I could have
Where can I find biggest lollipop with MS on it for Non-iPod creators as suckers?
I find it hard to believe that they could become the “biggest losers” while Steve Ballmer still pounds the earth.
Are we still breathing even? If so, how is that possible?
“Microsoft has shown its displeasure with Apple’s continued dominance of the digital player market.”
Boo frickety hoo. Awww, a market isn’t going to roll over and empty their pockets for you eh Microsoft. I weep for you and your half-assed product development strategy.
If you already suck, it doesn’t take much for someone else to suck a little less and take away your suckshare.
Micro$oftopoly eats it’s own.
Unless Microsoft contracts out Creative and others to make the device under the Zume label….
” In entering the market, Microsoft has shown its displeasure with Apple’s continued dominance of the digital player market”
Baller, “How dare any other company dominate a market niche! Microsoft most own ALL markets everywhere. Any upstart company that garners a majority market share will witness OUR displeasure!”
In all fairness, the “displeasure” line is the characterization of some analyst and not a MS representative quote. Still sounds like something Ballmer would say.
Balmer: “Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!….”
Balmer: Well, uh, you know guys. Developers all the way, until we need to do something else…
Can you say ” M$ Living-room plans up in smoke?”
I wish we could edit our posts: the post above should read “Ballmer” not “Baller”.
“Microsoft has shown its displeasure with Apple’s continued dominance of the digital player market.”
Who cares if M$ is “displeased”!?
Wait. Wait! Shhhhhh. Do you hear that?
Do you?
That’s the sound of my sphincter relaxing at de thought of de geniuses at Microsoft trying to compete with Apple.
No really, Microsoft entering this market shouldn’t be permitted. It’s dangerous for them. I mean, it’s kind of like giving a deaf blind kid a free pass to spend a weekend at Neverland Ranch. He wouldn’t stand a chance.
Yeh-heh-hehessssss . . . I keed because I care.
actually, microsoft clients and customers are the biggest losers, aren’t they? aren’t they the true victims?
MS’s Xbox division is already lossing hundreds of millions of dollars so they could compete with Sony, so who’s to say they don’t offer everything dramatically cheaper than Apple just to undermine their success. MS glory days are closing quick, look for some seriously desperate measures. But no matter, Apple will continue to rise as long as it sticks to its guns and keeps innovating with its products.
Harry, there’s probably more than a few Mac hardware dealers who share that exact same sentiment not to mention those clone manufactures who had the rug pulled out from under them.
‘When you have such a dominant position as Apple, it usually means you’ve done something right.'”
If Apple is replaced with Microsoft in the above, why does it suddenly become untrue?
Serious question.
Doing something right would be getting at least your core product prepared for release, doing something right would be to stay focused create awesome products and let others do what they do best. The only thing Microsoft has done right is strecth itself so thin that they can’t even release an update to its core product for almost a decade. Hmm.
Isn’t it premature to call MS partners the biggest losers? If this turns out like their OS, then MS customers will be the biggest losers.
Oh, Clyde beat me to it. But 100% correct.
Microsoft does not really compete with Apple. Apple is to blame for losing the OS war. Apple never lost the “PC” war because they are the only personal computer company left. Microsoft is not a computer maker. Microsoft is a software company. Apple is in competition not with Microsoft but the entire PC industry in a way. They do not compete with just Dell but every box builder.
M$ HAS to stick it to their partners. There has been nothing to counter the Apple onslaught, and as a result Apple has gained tremedous momentum toward the home entertainment market.
Actually, I really kind of think it is almost all over but the crying. M$ is at a minimum a year behind Apple when they release Vista, which is to say 18 mos. If Apple comes out with a reasonable movie download service, with resolution good enough for most foks- like near dvd quality- they are solidly through the gates of Troy.
Try using “handbrake,” rip a movie using h.264 2 pass encoding set for 900mb file size, and pipe it to your TV. You’ll be impressed. Actually, for me I use 700mb, and that’s very watchable on our 46″ DLP. So I don’t think it’s as far fetched as the guys who say the movies will need to be 5GB and take 5 hours to download expect. 90% of people will be very happy with 1GB movies, providing the price is right. 500mb takes 8 minutes on our RR connection, so 15minutes is not a lot to wait for a whole movie. . .
Gartenberg is right — Microsoft is the best choice for all computing needs because they own 90%+ of the market for everything. Apple is just a fart in the breeze that will be forgotten when Vista and Zune are released.
Mac Reallist: Thanks for the humor. ROTFLMAO
Way to go man! You’ve got this incredible sense of humor that always gets me!
Your posts are always such a laugh!