“A cynic would describe Microsoft’s approach to the music player market as simple Apple envy. The iPod has dominant market share and is helping Apple increase its small share of the PC market. So I’ve got to imagine that many in the inner sanctums of Redmond are hot to introduce a slick phone from Microsoft,” Saul Hansell reports for The New York Times.
“I pressed J Allard on this when I met him earlier this week. Mr. Allard runs Microsoft’s Zune unit and handles some other development for its Entertainment and Devices division, which includes the Windows Mobile phone operating system,” Hansell reports. “Microsoft prefers to work with partners, he said, referring to cellphone makers, but he added that ‘we’ll never say never’ to making a Microsoft phone.”
Hansell reports comments made by J Allard which include:
• People are buying [iPhone] because it’s an Apple phone, not because it’s an iPod. It’s a lousy iPod. You can’t skip a track without looking at it. You can’t go running with the thing.
MacDailyNews Note: We’ve been running with the iPhone since June. Love the lap timer, too!
• Microsoft will add more features from the Zune into Windows Mobile phones.
MacDailyNews Take: Ooh, phones that squirt!
• We didn’t create the Zune because we were dying to get into the hardware business and take inventory risk. We felt we had to do it… [With Windows], we got to create most of the magic and take none of the financial risk. History isn’t going to repeat that with consumer goods.
MacDailyNews Take: You can say that again (last sentence)! Now, about that “magic,” it’s where, exactly?
Full article here.
What’s this guy smoking and where can I get some of it?
J Allard = tool
Yes, you can skip a track by simply pressing the microphone twice quickly.
The idiocy that comes from the MS Camp never stops amazing me. The iPhone is a great phone that happens to be a wonderful iPod. And for jogging, Apple has so graciously PARTNERED with Nike to give us a great, working solution.
MS let it go, you are has-beens and cannot compete on a level playing field.
Well, he should be worried about the facts that the Zune makes for a lousy iPod and Windows Mobile phones make for lousy iPhones…
Beyond all that corporate-speak, Microsoft is still its own worst enemy. It built itself into a locked room by flooding the tech industry with Windows – and is stuck with all the legacy baggage therein.
If it wanted to truly compete, it would ape Apple’s model for success.
If Microsoft had any spirit, they wouldn’t issue those statements, but prove their edge with products alone.
However, that might be a long wait…
What did you expect him to say..that the iPhone is a great iPod? M$ knows they have had their butt kicked. How much is the Zune being discounted in order to get them to sell?
Saddest of all for Microsuck is that Apple has sold twice as many iPhones as they have Zunes, and the Zune has been on the market for 8 months longer.
Wanna skip a track without looking? Double-click the button on your headphones – boom. Robert’s your father’s brother…
Well, which is it… magic or WOW?!
“Ooh, phones that squirt!”
I think that really should be a cue to MS to get into a market they haven’t considered: ketchup bottles.
Who really cares what these MS people think?
The guy is going ballmery™ (confluence of barmy and Ballmer).
If we can put the customer first, we prefer to do it with partners.
Parse that? Nonsense newspeak saying we ignore the customer. Apple? – puts customers first.
Allard is a symptom of the mind rot that’s pervasive in the management of the Evil Empire these days. Any normal person can take a glance at someone like him and figure out that he’s a poseur, but MS’s senior managment simply lacks the ability to do so.
Ballmer is the ultimate example of the Peter principle, and Allard is the proof.
-jcr
It’s basic psychology, really. If you know what your competition is saying in statements like these, you can actually garner a fair bit of the company’s overall opinion of itself as compared to you, and maybe get an inkling for what they’re planning to counter you with.
Microsoft feels threatened fairly easily, and this is manifested in the desire to dominate everything it touches.
And like Sun Zi said, “Know your enemy.”
Yeah, I hate when I read stuff that says you have to look at the screen to pause or skip.
One click: Pause
Two clicks: Skip
Click on the headphone mic that is.
If there isn’t a recession in ’08, it’ll be Apple’s most successful year by far.
Even with a recession, I believe they’re going to do well.
yours,
Gavron
i have an iPhone for the phone and internet, with the occasional music/video playback, because it’s a great phone and i’m looking forward to some neat additions from Apple
i have a 1 Gig iPod shuffle for working out at the gym, ’cause it’s small, light and rugged.
i have an 80 Gig iPod for music, playing longer videos/movies and file transfer, because that’s what i had before the other two devices and it’s an awesome iPod.
i think the iPhone’s a decent iPod. sure it would be nice to have more control without having to unlock it. but i certainly wouldn’t call it “lousy.” sounds like sour grapes from “we rebranded a Toshiba Gigabeat because we couldn’t innovate our way out of a paper bag” Microsoft.
I agree the iPhone is not the best iPod.
The current playlist is secondary to whole list of albums. Why would I be playing a blues playlist and turn the unit sideways to start see every album that I have on the iPhone.
As for running with the iPhone, it has no Nike+ support. You can’t skip to the next without double squeezing the ear buds, which doesn’t work well while running.
The iPhone is designed to be looked at during usage, while the iPod can be worked by feel.
The iPhone has duplicate buttons throughout the user interface. Example: The album view (the default during while playing) can be tapped just like the button in the upper right corner to switch from album to list view and back again.
But, I hope Apple improves the design with future updates.
“The iPhone is a lousy iPod!”… Well…
The Zune is a LOUSY Plays for Sure device. It doesn’t even play the same content.
You can’t run with an iPhone, but you could run with a zune? What a tool
J Allard has absolutely no credibility. The last I looked his Entertainment division at Microsoft has lost billions of dollars over the last few years.
@Anonymous
Exactly how do you press the microphone twice?
“Yes, you can skip a track by simply pressing the microphone twice quickly.”
Are you referring to the “Home” button? That only brings up the mini player controls. From there you can skip a track if that is what you mean.
@Anonymous
Okay, okay. So you explained it later on (twice). I’ll read more next time.
“Wanna skip a track without looking? Double-click the button on your headphones – boom. Robert’s your father’s brother…”
and
“Click on the headphone mic that is.”