“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?
MDN needs a preview window for all posts. Are you people at MDN technologically savvy enough to provide this function?
MS will need flawless execution and a killer product to get anywhere in this market.
When the new machine comes out of the gate, it will need to dazzle the customer, offer extraordinary value and provide something the iPod does not.
Usually MS tactics involve copying something and offering it for a lower price. In this case, Apple is already a price leader so MS will be forced to sell theirs at a loss (like they do with their other X-box hardware).
And talk about shafting your industry partners, all the folks MS has woo’d with their proprietary Windows media technologies, Creative Labs is done-for.
I see two positives here. First, if this Zune thingy is actually compatible with all the existing iPod accessories, then that tells me that they have just only created another clone approx. the same shape, size, form, and usability. I believe that this will just make the iPod even more prestigious and people will want it that much more. It’s hype will just get elevated. Second, the iPod needs a little competition to keep Apple on their toes and to keep the price competitive for us consumers with a budget. I am still using my shuffle and waiting to scoop up a $99 nano.
As much as I love to see Apple kicking everybodys butts yet again, in reality, I would like to see Apple sustain 65 percent market share for the consumers over long term. I am tired of messing with CD’s and I think alot of people would agree.
Keep in mind that Steve, on a moments notice, is prepared to release a firmware update for the iPod that would include WMA support and compatibility with everything and everybody, but I think Apple is smart to sit on that and wait until they have enough competitive worries to make them release that.
One of the reasons the original Nescape was killed was because the developers including Marc Andreessen, got rich, became lazy and had the hubris to believe their product was unstoppable. There was very little continuing innovation, and M$ caught up after a couple of years.
This is hardly the same situation with the iPod. Apple and Jobs have the imagination, development skills, style and marketing ability that Netscape (or M$) could not even imagine. I believe Apple can more than hold its own against M$. If size and corporate money was everything, why is Porsche and such fashion firms as Prada and Versace still around?
Windows is competitive as an OS because it works sufficiently well and gets cheaply onto machines. It’s a Chevette, a Target bicycle.
Sure, Tiger is an Audi, a Trek, but when’s the last time you bought a computer with Tiger on it for $250? I bought one in January, with a monitor and scanning printer. And for the simple things I do with it it’s perfect.
Zune will be good and you can bet it will be cheaper. Yes, the iPod will be stronger with the same features and more by then, but Zune will play music very well and people will buy it.
It won’t be an iPod killer, as in the iPod will be extinguished, but it probably will be an iPod killer, as in destroying its hegemony.
Well, however it turns out, the ride will be interesting.
Can anyone see M@FT pulling a ‘REAL’ move, and having the Zune automatically play all AAC files? REAL tried it and got taken to court by Apple… how cool would it be to see Apple and Microsoft duke it out in court, with an eventual MSFT loss? I would tune in!
No we don’t need a bloody preview window. Why can’t you just read it in the box and anyway, typos make interesting reading. Back in your box Preview. Idiot.
MS’ desktop monopoly in the office space will not help them in the music player business the way it did in the OS or browser wars. Consumer electronics is a different ballgame not tied to their OS.
That said, the Zune device will be the most successful of the also-rans. It will virtually eliminate all the others and possibly cut into iPod sales a bit. For MS to wake up and realize a music player must have accessories and good software is wise on their part — finally. A universal port is key.
If they do license their port to other manufacturers such as Creative they will also need to have some sort of standard sizing as well. iPod accessory makers know the various iPod dimensions and they can make products that are specfically designed for it. If three or more manufacturers are using a MS port it won’t help if they place the port at different locations on different sized devices in different colors. If MS cuts out the partners it will make life easier for the accessory makers.
I love the idea of letting MS get their product on the market and just as it is showing some moderate signs of success SJ does one of four things, 1) allow WMA support on iPod (not my favorite); 2) licenses Fairplay to Creative and others to make iTunes-compatible devices; 3) licenses the iPod port to Creative and others to make iPod-accessory compatible devices; or 4) licenses Fairplay/iTunes to other digital stores to have choices of download stores from within iTunes.
In the long run it is better for Apple to have 60% of the player market with the 40% balance divided among multiple manufacturers than it is for it to be 60% Apple/40% MS. Sure, 70%+ would be great but not necessarily realistic in the long term. Keeping AAC+Fairplay as the standard is highly critical.
once there wuz vapor called Zune
maybe to be released in June
with all the music players
there were the naysayers
and soon it was clear
they were no where near
to relese this brick
and the bs became thick
as balmer’s middle expanded
due to stress enhancement
from Apple’s continued release
of new toys that pleased
much more to us
thanks to the M$ F-Ckups
Steve Jobs is brilliant.
He scooped all the rumor sites months ago when he spilled the beans about the Microsoft iPod killer. He even ruined the best possible name for the device, an offshoot of the Xbox program, when he suggested they call it the Xplayer.
Microsoft was screwed. They couldn’t use the most natural, the most marketable name for their player. How could they use Xplayer when the iPod developers named it for them? The Xplayer name would be the butt of jokes on every talk show.
I bet there were a few chairs thrown around the Microsoft campus when that happened.
Mac OS -X- was there before Windhose -X-P !
Now they come with -Zune- to come as close as possible to -iTunes-
it is amazing that M$ as a clone company got that far with it….
“Why would any company license the Zune port before the product even exists or (once it exists) proves that it is viable?”
If Apple faulters or something else comes along those guys would be out of biz. I can bet you that accesory makers are dying to have another player in the industry. It gives them leverage with Apple. No supplier wants to be depending on just on vendor. That is why the music/movie industries want to strike as many deals as possible with other resellers.
To Preview:
Using the royal “we” again, are we? Too bad the rest of us are as perfect as you King Asshole, your Royal Sphincter, your Imperial Anus, your Great Turd Chute, your High Hemorrhoid.
How Zune is now?
(Answer: not very.)
Apple need to license Fairplay! The real long term value is in the software, not the hardware and there’s plenty of good hardware besides the iPod.
We really should welcome the competition. Competition only going to make Apple try harder at making the iPod the greatest MP3player. Not that I think M$ will put up much of a battle but still…
Zune? Wht would you use a “Z” which represents sleeping. It sounds like an ancient relic hat lost it’s spell.
About the “proprietary 802.11” used by Apple/Nike … would you want anything else? I mean, you are jogging down Main Street, listening to your tunes and getting updated by your shoes, and suddenly you get patched in to an iChat (on possibility) conference from the building to your right. You could trip yourself up from the surprise.
I’m sure MS/Zune can find a way to isolate their own users that will neither infringe on iPod/Nike or be infringed upon by them. And neither will pick up both sides of the conversation between that “businessman”, who is either talking to himself or to his cell phone, and whoever is on the other end.
Dear me, the Majesty of Manure has no response. He disappears like a fart in windstorm!
The Colon King has no reply. No witty rejoinder from the Lord of the Loo, the Prince of the Poo, the Raja of Caca, the Sultan of Shit. A mere commoner has defeated the excreted in the battle of banter, has out witted the shitted, trounced the turd, annihilated the imperial intestine. Amen and amen. Back to our regular programming.
hey bitches…ipods suck. Get creative. Nice try microsoft but too much hype for something too bland looking. http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/10/microsofts-argo-xbox-wireless-portable-media-player/
preview:
Quit being so harsh. Had “To Preview” not been told by his parents that if they had the foreknowledge that their progeny would turn out like him that they would have abstained from sex indefinitely then he would be more receptive to the idea of rational introspection. Don’t blame him, he’s just a product of transgressive segregation gone very badly, another sad example of people swimming naked in the shallow end of the gene pool.
“total write-off. Game, Set, Match.”
Yes, Apple would become an open music store and others would get the hardware revenue Apple gets now.
Game Set Match for Apple… Yep Sure. Total write off of your Apple shares come tax time. yep.
“This is hardly the same situation with the iPod. Apple and Jobs have the imagination, development skills, style and marketing ability that Netscape (or M$) could not even imagine. I believe Apple can more than hold its own against M$.”
And exacty what does an iPod do today, (except play crappy video on a tiny screen) that it didn’t do when first released. Decreases in size, cost and increases in capacity can hardly be regarded as “innovations” in the computer industry.
So it must be something else?
Apple still has the ‘cool factor.’