“After offering confirmation of recent reports that Microsoft will release an iPod-competitive media player called Zune, representatives of iPod accessory manufacturers have disclosed to iLounge that the Redmond, Washington-based company has contacted them regarding potential accessory licensing and compatibility plans for the device, similar to Apple’s Made For iPod program. Like all current iPods except for the iPod shuffle, Zune will feature a proprietary expansion port that Microsoft will allow companies to accessorize at a lower rate than the Made For iPod program, and one which a source suggests will likely lead to widespread iPod industry third-party support for the new device,” Jeremy Horwitz reports for iLounge.
“Additionally, iLounge has heard that Zune will most likely follow Apple’s recent decision – as seen in the upcoming Nike+iPod Sport Kit – to use some form of proprietary wireless communication technology, eschewing the open Bluetooth standard in favor of one developed at least in part by Microsoft. As previously reported, the Nike+iPod Sport Kit uses an Apple-developed version of 802.11, which may offer bandwidth and other benefits over the various flavors of Bluetooth, but could lock third-party developers out from creating compatible accessories,” Horwitz reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Greg H.” for the heads up.]
Microsoft sounds serious about grabbing Apple’s leftovers. It remains to be seen how their so-called “partners” like Creative, SanDisk, Toshiba, Sony, MTV, Napster, etc. will react if and when Microsoft’s “Zune” vapor solidifies. There still is, after all, a nice minority share of the market that iPod+iTunes doesn’t own. It looks like Microsoft wants it all for themselves as usual.
One question springs immediately to mind: If Microsoft starts to show any momentum, would Steve Jobs decide to get the also-ran device makers and music services on the horn and, oh, how about… license FairPlay to them? Then everyone except Microsoft would be iTunes and iPod compatible. Whoops! All Zune-related development, marketing, manufacturing, and other costs = total write-off. Game, Set, Match.
That’s one way to go. Another is to just stay the course, which would be even easier to do if Mac growth were to ramp up at the same time. And, if just some of what’s rumored for next-gen iPods comes true, then Microsoft and the rest of the roadkill are in for the usual world of hurt. Even if Microsoft could somehow manage it, it’d take quite some time for them to significantly impact Apple’s iPod+iTunes juggernaut.
What do you think?
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Great idea MDN on getting Creative et. al. on the FairPlay bandwagon. Thanks for Blowing it for us, CHUMPS!!!!!
Have some faith in Apple’s future products! Whatever Microsoft has created, Apple has it!
This is all making one HUGE assumption – that M$ is actually going to release a product that “could” or “might” compete directly with the iPod. It’s already being called the latest iPod “killer”. Why is anyone quaking in their boots about this? Is it because the 8000 lb M$ gorilla around the corner has farted? That just means all they have so far is the faint smell of something to come, with nothing at ALL to show for it.
Apple continues to sell iPods. Apple continues to develop new iPods. And Macs. And OS X.
Microsoft might also release a new operating system sometime in the next 8 months. But that’s only about an 80% chance.
I bet it will be the first Music/media player to harbour viruses!
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Zune?
Another in a long line of ridiculous Microsoft product names
Sounds like typical Microsoft behavior: Do what Apple does, only a few years later and not as well.
Firstly, like Vista and Longhorn, I’ll believe it when I see it. Secondly, if it is anything like Origami it will be a major flop. I can’t wait to hear Gates comment on the probabilities of first release of this thing, too, much less expound on all the wonderful features and functions it will have like Vista-eviscerated.
Seriously, will Microsoft ever deliver something both useful and innovative on time?
Can’t wait for the inevitable Zoon swoon.
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Given that Microsoft has over 90% market share, why do they need to get into the music download business? Is it because of Apple?
Seems to me that Microsoft is going after Apple…
Mark
Ultimately, it’s not really about the iPod … it’s Microsoft’s desire to keep it’s own audio/video formats relevant … that is why I think they are being so stubborn.
Don’t call it an iPod “Killer” until it actually kills the iPod….
Ultimately, it’s not really about the iPod … it’s Microsoft’s desire to keep it’s own audio/video formats relevant …
Exactly. One of the tools MSFT used to dominate the computer industry was standards, and I don’t mean someone else’s standards.
By controlling the standards you can button hole the competition. Think Mac incompatible web sites. If WMP becomes the industriy’s player standard, all the third party accessory manufacturers will develop for it, and not the iPod. At least not until the iPod adopts WMP.
iPod/iTunes/FairPlay is the current standard and the manufacturers have lined up behind it. Accessories are to music player platforms what software was to Windows.
um…. doesn’t history repeat itself?
Will Vista (XP XP3, Now With Aero™) be ready Zune??
Zune? With a name like that, it’s already a goner. Must have come from the same brilliant minds who came up with “Urge.”
Companies that make accessories for iPod do so because there are tens of millions of iPods out there. Why would any company license the Zune port before the product even exists or (once it exists) proves that it is viable? Microsoft – Get your product out there first. At first, you’re going to have to make your own Zune accessories. Then, we’ll see if other companies want join the “Zune ecosystem.” And by the way, you may want to focus a bit more on getting your “other” product out the door first.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/23/ms_vs_apple_ipod_dock/
So, MS has gone from working with the CEA to develop an open standard to developing its own. This is another reason for its current partners to get nervous.
Microsoft will offer the Zune port for free to ensure take-up. It will offer it free to all existing WMA-player manufacturers such as SanDisk, Creative, etc. I don’t yet believe M$ will actually launch this device themselves, but use it as a reference point for other manufacturers, and as a way of getting them all to adopt the Zune docking port standard, thereby ensuring that accessory manufacturers feel there is a sufficient market for them to make products for.
I doubt we’ll see an M$ player. What we will see is an M$-sponsored docking port and format, universally adopted by the WMA-supporting player manufacturers.
We should have known this would have happened Zuner or later.
It will be released in Zune next year.
“Lousy Smarch weather.”
At this point, I wouldn’t buy anything but an iPod, but if M$ actually does build an “iPod Killer” (highly unlikely, but say they did), it would obviously be one fantastic product.
I have enough faith in Apple to think its response would be nothing short of astonishing. Competition is good. M$-if you’ve got it, let’s see it. I’d then like to see what Apple counters it with.
What’s there in a name? Well, if one wants to sell a product globally, it might help to have a name which can easily be pronounced in various languages. iPod is one such name.
Zune? Urge? The first sounds like a Swedish name, an equivalent to Bubba. Try to pronounce Urge in Norwegian… Or, if pronounced in English, to Norwegian ears it sounds like someone about to vomit…
Does’t anyone remember how M$ used its Windoze monopoly to kill the leader Netscape?
We and Apple should be very afriad of the M$ approach, their Windoze sheep blindly following mediocrity, and their willingness to sell far below cost to purchase market share…
Public disillusionment, displeasure, and ridicule of its failures and setbacks with Vista, Longhorn, Origami, and Office 2007 have contributed to Microsoft’s heightened obsession with establishing its own peculiar formats (whether they be for audio, video, graphic, or text files). Microsoft may lack adequate leadership and suffered significant setbacks, but it has not lost its desire to retain commercial relevance by coercing others to submit to their own proprietary definition of digital standards of technology.
Microsoft’s mission is not to develop the best products for the most people, Microsoft’s mission is to regulate the processes how digital devices construct, store, and communicate information. Microsoft’s “products” are simply the strategic vectors for inoculating the world with digital pathogens all for increasing economic return for Microsoft.
No flaming, please, I just write what the voices tell me.
<b>The VERY Satirical Realist wrote “um…. doesn’t history repeat itself?”.<b>
History will indeed if Zune is anything like Bob.
You mak’n fun of me?