Microsoft's answer to the iPod

Ziggy · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 12712

A few features I gathered in the article:
- can download music (and transfer pictures) wirelessly
- fm tuner
- 30 gigs
- can stream your music to 4 other mp3 players
- screen is about two-thirds the size of the face

They hope to release them by the holiday season.

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

Yeah this is the answer to ipod like vista is the answer to tiger.

Microsofts mp3 player will look laughable once apple drops the touch screen ipod. Just like the 360 will look like a joke when ps3 comes out. Just like vista is already a joke.

Those cats are hardly on the cutting edge.

lakers0505 · Franchise Player Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 10701

The Dagger · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:17 pm Post subject:

IPOD will blow the competition away when they come out with their cell-phone IPOD.

LaLakers999 · Star Player Joined: 10 May 2006 Posts: 1103

say goodbye to CD's as we know it.... everything else will be a wireless downloads from your comp, peers, work, grandma etc....

KobeButler · Franchise Player Joined: 14 Nov 2004 Posts: 10179

If they wanna compete, lower the price. If not, im sticking with my ipod.
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chef · Posted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 9:33 pm Post subject:

Ziggy · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 12712

XTN · Starting Rotation Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 925

I recently worked on a marketing campaign for a "pretender" that wants to get it on some of the action. Unfortunately after doing the initial discovery on the market it's safe to say Ipod will stay king for awhile to come.

Here's some interesting 411 I picked up from R&D that pertains to Zune and how sick Apple has the market on lockdown.
1. Wifi sharing units aren't exactly new.. mp3 player companies have tried it or may come out w/one. Sharing files via wifi is currently possible on some pocket pcs but none I would consider a "true" player.

2. Accessories - most major retail stores have a section entirely devoted to Ipod add-ons. This means that any product that is suppose to give Ipod a run for their money will need to have after-market products ready from the get go. This is rare since most accessories don't get made until sometime after the initial release of the product.

3. Any new product that is dubbed an "iPod killer" will have to have some sort of gimmick that Apple themselves can't add on if the trend becomes big. Wifi Ipod> MS Zune

4. iTunes - from the numbers I saw and reports I read.. this maybe the biggest Zune killer of them all. People love iTunes. High marks for user-ability.. buy, burn, play, transfer all with ease. iTunes has allowed Apple to corner the online music buying market. Only limewire comes close in music downloads and that's just stealing stuff. Which leads to...

5. DRM- Digital Rights Management. When you buy a song from iTunes you also purchase their DRM called Fairplay which gives you your right to put it on your ipod, burn it from itunes, and what have you. Apple can sell their DRM to other mp3 player companies to let other products run the songs you bought. BUT, they probably won't. Rumor is Zune will have it's own DRM so compatibility between the two is non-existant. Thus, Zune will have to have it's own iTunes. So now it's more than just making a better mouse trap.

When Apple came out w/ the iPod, it's success wasn't an accident. It was a war plan to take over...just like Microsoft's "embrace, extend, extinguish" business strats.

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

word xtn. very interesting stuff.

basically microsoft would have to come out with something so revolutionary that people would question why they shouldn't buy an ipod. they have proven lately to be way behind in terms of technology and features...especially when it comes to apple.

i don't think the boys at cuppertino have anyhing to worry about.

skumbag · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 843

A lot of you are underestimating Microsoft when ever they introduced something new. When DOS came out, everyone was laughing becase Xerox and Apple had a GIU OS already. Looks like Microsoft is laughing now. Then when Win95 comes out with a cheesy GUI, everyone said it's still DOS. When NT came out, people were asking why NT when Unix is so good. Then when the Linux came out, people where predicting the demise of Windows, "who can beat a free Linux OS", right? Can't get any cheaper than free! As we can see today 15 years after Linux hit the market, it's still a novelty OS. Then when MS entered the console gaming industry, people again laughed, "ha! I have my PS". Well guess what, MS is taking a bite out of Sony and you can bet Sony execs are feeling the pinch! MS is also now making heavy entry into the BI (business intelligence) software industry, an guess what, most observer predict that they will succeed too and you can bet the other BI players are starting to sweat too.

Right now I'm hearing the same fanboys (iPod fanboys) already passing judgement, disregarding the marketing power behind MS. MS is not a dumb company! They let the likes of Sony and Apple do their marketing research for them. MS decided to follow Sony's PS and Apple's iPod after MS has seen the success and acceptance of these toys. MS doesn't risk rersearching money, no need for taking risk on a product, when you already seen what consumers want. You guys say Apple has a 75% hold on the iPod market, but you forget that buyers of iPod can be persuaded to buy alternaives, and it's no that hard persuading some of that 75% to jump ship either. MS doesn't need to "lead" the MP3 market, they only need to slow chunking away Apple's share and that would be enough to make Apple investors not happy. To discount MS is a foolish decision.

So you can bet Steve Jobs and the Apple are sweating. Thing is, Apple is basically a one and a half trick pony. They have the iPod and their miniscule Mac base, but IMO the iPod is more like a trendy toy, which leaves Apple vulnerable to the next toy that comes along. Oh touch screen iPod? And Toshiba can't produce this technology? MS was no fool
when they teamed up with Toshiba for consumer electronics.

The only time that I can think that MS has failed miserably was when they bought out WebTV for $400 million. I do'nt think MS had much intetntion for WebTV other than to buy it out and kill it, and at $400 million even back then, it was chump change for a co. like MS.

And I would not discount Vista either. OEM PC makers will have no choice but to load Vista. I don't see Dell and HP start loading Mac OS or Linux on their machines anytime soon. Fanboys' doom and gloom, heard it before. I'm willing to bet in a couple years, most PC users will be runnning Vista whether they like it or not. If you don't like Vista, well there's Mac and Linux. Each OS has their strong point and weak points, but it's just ignorant to bash one OS over another.

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

gotta disagree with you on several points skumbag.

the ipod as a novelty toy? have you been sleeping under a rock? it changed the music business completely. that's not a novelty that's a breakthrough. and their hold on the market is not going to change because microsoft comes out with some second rate player.

all you have to do is track operating systems throughout the years. while microsoft struggles for about a decade to get their OS off the ground, delaying it and delaying it, they will eventually release an OS that is a shallow copy of Mac OSX Tiger, that has literally all the same features, and takes so much juice most PCs right now won't even be able to run it. not to mention there are still viruses for it. simply its an inferior product.

as for the console world...microsoft put out a bigger, stronger, faster, sharper system than ps2 and still trailed by a mile. the 360 was released prematurely and while it is a fine system, it's plagued with problems already. not to mention how much they bungled the release by not shipping enough units while the demand was hot. now the demand is low. ps3 will be a far superior machine and people will forget all about 360 when it comes out.

im sure the zune will have some nice features but will it be enough to lure people away from ipod? the answer is no. apple has stayed a step ahead of microsoft the last few years without question. apple's next ipod will be far better than whatever microsoft can come up with. plus, is microsoft going to offer a music store with the most licensed music library on the planet that seamlessly integrates with its product the way itunes does? microsoft is joining the party way, way too late to make an impact.

lastly, now that the next mac OS is going to be shipped with the boot camp software...why would anyone buy a PC? you can run both mac and windows on the same macine, have all the benefits of apple and have windows right there should you need to use it for something not on mac.

he_is_the_one · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:23 pm Post subject:

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

24KaratGold · Franchise Player Joined: 13 Aug 2006 Posts: 17350

^True. Wasn't Microsoft suppossed to release Vista in like 2003? Now it's coming out sometime in '07. From what I've heard they are actually on schedule

Laker_Town · Retired Number Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 25604

I could care less about MAC and MiCr. Personally, I own an Ipod, and other Mp3 players. I use a toshiba laptop with xp on it. Im not huggin anyones nuts and saying "my daddy's car is better". What for? Instead, I encourage the competition. It only means CHEAPY CHEAPY for consumers.

By the way, Apples got it down right with their marketing department. Even their packagin is eye candy....It helps a lot for the superficial wannabes.

F Snaq · Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2006 1:26 pm Post subject:

"Nerd talk overload ... tech terms overload ... overload ... error ... error ... err-or ... err ... or ... "

::: collapses to the ground, sparks and smoke comes out of ears :::
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Car54 · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 14424

Apple is so far ahead it not even funny
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rracer99 · Starting Rotation Joined: 26 May 2001 Posts: 238

Apple's success was soley due to their habit of having a 100% managed vertical market for music (IPOD/ITUNES). This allowed for a clean marketing message and 0 confusion for new adopters.

Microsoft has always used a "partner" approach, and while this works for many other technologies, a consumer electronics device is not one of them. Microsoft finally understands a 100% Microsoft operated vertical for this type of product is necessary (they learned from the XBOX project which has GREATLY exceeded their expectations). Microsoft will similarily start to see great gains that were not possible these last several years (when partners implemented the technology - the various music stores and various devices produced by various companies).

The "Zune" push will not overtake IPOD immediately, but it will accomplish what Microsoft wants, a foot-hold for further developments. It may take 2 or 3 product GENERATIONS, but I can assure you IPOD market share will be eroded significantly overtime.

Microsoft has an overall strategy that this project fits in. Overtime, competition will have a hard time dealing with all the angles. For example, The OS, XBOX, Mobile-OS, Entertainment OS, Portable video/audio player development will converge in a very powerful way in the upcoming years. The synergies between these components will be difficult to compete with.

Unless Apple suddenly increases their OS marketshare by a massive amount, and creates leading platforms for all technology platforms out of thin air, IPOD will just be a successful consumer electronic device with a heavily trimmed market share overtime.

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

rracer- not saying ipod is bulletproof.

there was a time when sony's walkman dominated the market. apple took it over by coming up with a product that was revolutionary. when a company has a stranglehold on the market like that it takes a truly innovative product to overcome it. zune is not that. it's not even close. if microsoft was to come out with a totally new product that blew ipod out of the water (the same way ipod pwned walkman) then it would be a different story. as of now i'm not impressed.

skumbag · Starting Rotation Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 843

Car54 · Franchise Player Joined: 10 Aug 2005 Posts: 14424

I believe businesses will continue to take the so call cheap way out and use MS, but more consumers will be moving over to mac.
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Star · Star Player Joined: 01 Aug 2004 Posts: 1564

Bergamotichek · Retired Number Joined: 02 Sep 2007 Posts: 16777206

ocho · Retired Number Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 53790

jd- consumer mac purchases have been growing steadily the last few years. and 50% of their purchases last year were people new to mac.