Microsoft teams with Orange to produce Motorola Apple iTunes phone competitor
Saturday, September 03, 2005 - 06:05 PM EDT
"Microsoft has teamed up with mobile operator Orange to try to gain control of the digital music business, which the software giant believes could be worth hundreds of billions of pounds a year," Tony Glover reports for The Business.
"The Business has learned that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has persuaded Orange to develop a mobile phone, the SPV C550, which will double as a Microsoft music player. Consumers will keep their music on a computer and transfer it to their mobiles. The music phone will go on sale in HMV’s flagship stores next month. HMV is using Microsoft software to run its digital music internet download service, HMV Digital Jukebox, which can be accessed by the phones," Glover reports. "Microsoft spokesman Jason Langridge said: 'The mobile digital music market is about to take off. Porting digital music on to mobile phones represents a massive opportunity for Microsoft. While Apple has sold about 10m iPods worldwide to date, a quarter of the world’s population own mobile phones, which Microsoft software can turn into digital music players.'"
Glover reports, "Gates has timed the launch to coincide with his arch-rival Apple founder and chief executive Steve Jobs’ long-awaited unveiling of an iTunes phone, expected this week... Microsoft plans to topple Apple’s iTunes from its position as the world’s best-selling digital music service and make Windows Media Audio the industry standard. The Microsoft-powered phone will do everything that an iPod can but will be incompatible with Apple’s products."
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Comparing Apples to Oranges, which one do you think most consumers will choose?
Orange's Microsoft Windows Media phone will only work with Windows and not the world's market-dominating iTunes Music Store (iTMS). It would seem there's a rather limited audience for such a closed and limited solution - see iTMS competitors' lack of succes. There are also too many cooks in the kitchen: Microsoft, Orange, and HMV for things to be expected to work very well. Why does Microsoft exclude tens of millions of Mac users who have proven to be strong buyers of digital music and digital music players? Open up, Microsoft!
Motorola's Apple iTunes phone will work openly with both Mac and Windows and seamlessly with the iTunes Music Store.
Oh, by the way, Microsoft spokesman Jason Langridge is either wrong or lying. Apple has sold well over twice as many iPods as he wants to admit publicly: 21 million iPods (rough estimate of 25 million as of today) worldwide to date. Do you think it was just an innocent mistake that the Microsoft spokesman happened to get the number of iPods sold so completely wrong?
Finally, the de facto standard for legal digital online music files is Apple's protected MPEG-4 Audio AAC with FairPlay DRM (.m4p) which holds 80-percent market share, is cross-platform, and has passed well over half a billion tracks sold.
Related articles:
RUMOR: Motorola Apple iTunes phones to offer 256, 512MB storage, ability to buy music via networks - September 02, 2005
Germany's T-Mobile to offer Motorola Apple iTunes mobile phone - September 02, 2005
BofA: 'Apple-branded' Motorola iTunes cell phones due next week - September 02, 2005
Report: Motorola teams with O2 carrier for Apple iTunes phone in UK - September 01, 2005
Madonna, Green Day, Little Richard and others to star in Motorola Apple iTunes phone ads - September 01, 2005
Apple in deal with Cingular to offer Motorola iTunes phone - August 30, 2005
Analysts speculate on what Apple CEO Steve Jobs will unveil during 'special event' next Wednesday - August 29, 2005
Apple announces 'special event' to be held September 7th - August 29, 2005
Report: Motorola to debut ROKR Apple iTunes phone on September 7 - August 25, 2005
Motorola: ROKR Apple iTunes phone debut 'big enough to have its own event' - August 19, 2005
The de facto standard for legal digital online music files: Apple's protected MPEG-4 Audio (.m4p) - December 15, 2004
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I don't think this will impact Apple too much (if at all). The MotoPod is going to finally launch next Wednesday (versus next month), be available in the US and UK (and also probably in other markets we're unaware of). Not to mention the fact of the possibility for other phone makers and service providers to hop on board in the future, Apple seems to have the beginnings of another strong pillar for their digital music strategy in place.
Ballmer can go back to throwing chairs now.