“Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, will begin selling portable music players for as much as 80 percent less than Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod,” The Denver Post reports. “The Microsoft-branded devices will ‘look and feel’ as good as the iPod for as little as $50, said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of MSN at Microsoft Corp., at the Goldman Sachs fifth annual Internet Conference in Las Vegas. The iPod sells for $249 to $499.”
“Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., will release a number of music players when it launches its online music service later this year, giving customers more choices than Apple, Mehdi said,” The Denver Post reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This from Microsoft, a company that thought Windows 95 had “caught up to the Mac” and currently thinks Windows XP “looks and feels” as good as Mac OS X. Microsoft, a company that’s working on Longhorn, trying to debut it in 2007, that’ll attempt to “be as good as or close enough” to Apple’s Mac OS X that debuted six years earlier in 2001. Thanks for the good laugh, Yusuf! FYI: We’re happy to have the most choices in online legit music, with iTunes Music Store’s 700,000+ online tracks available and growing, that work perfectly with the market-dominating, best-in-class devices, Apple’s iPod and iPod mini. Microsoft is going to offer more choices (as long as it’s Microsoft) how exactly?
When has one company copied so much so poorly and gotten so many suckers to pay them so handsomely for the privilege of suffering with second and third-rate knock-off products?
Related MacDailyNews article:
Mac users should not buy Microsoft software – May 16, 2003
F. U. D.
MS business as usual.
Yeah, they said all this about the Playstation too before XBox came out.
M$: Hey! Look what we’re GONNA do…
Apple: yo, look at what we’re doing NOW!
sorry, but M$ seems to be talkin’ like politicians; promises, promises…
Unfortunately, what Microsoft puts out will be just good enough for the masses. Many people look at price first and then worry about quality second. I’m not taking Microsoft’s side, it’s just that their business model is to develop and sell stuff that’s just good enough to sell to people. They aren’t too worried about it being great, partly because of the monopoly they have.
Also, wouldn’t just about anyone want to spend $50 on an MP3 player that was just about as good as an iPod? Hey, if it craps out, just by a new one, or 6 or 7 more, for the same as what you would have spent on an iPod.
Again, I’m not supporting Microsoft, it’s just that for many people they’re good enough. For Mac users, who tend to want elegance, style, functionality and design, they’re not.
I fail to see how $50, or around �40 in my money is going to buy anything other than 64MB of RAM in a horrible case and a small display.
And what Yusuf, who might be a Muslim and might therefore attract the ire of Jay Rice, fails to understand is he’s not competing with the iPod or the mini. His competition is going to be Creative’s Muvo 256 and other cheap and not so cheerful WMA devices.
So let’s wish him Good Luck on his trip back to Planet Earth, where hopefully he will be able to catch up on his medication.
$500 – 80% = $100
There are plenty of $100 pos mp3 players, whats one more…..
The 80-20 rule, while M$ will be able to claim 80% price reduction it will also have 20% the features and functionality…..
Not to worry…. millions will buy them and about three months after the debut the first M$ mp3 virus will hit!
The assumption is that Apple will stand still and not introduce lower-priced, lower capacity iPods. Also, as stated above, it is impossible at this time to offer a mini drive device at the price point that M$ claims. They have to buy hard drives from the current manufactuers and prices are not in the $25 wholesale range. B.S.
microsoft can afford to sell things at a huge loss to make up for coming in late to the game…keep that in mind
they have cash reserves that higher than most countries
“”The Microsoft-branded devices will ‘look and feel’ as good as the iPod for as little as $50, said Yusuf Mehdi”
Please notice that he makes NO mention of the specs he is comparing to. Yeah, they can easily sell a 64MB player they THINK looks and feels “as good as the iPod” (I’ll really, really belive that when I see MSFT’s design teams pull their collective heads out of their asses, i.e. never) for $50 and compare that to the iPod Mini and say it’s 80% less, but it’s also at least 80% less device in comaprison. This is just typical MSFT FUD. Move along, nohing to see here…
I don’t think Apple has anything to worry about with this. They have been competing with $50 Music players since day ONE, look at them now.
Also, note the fact that these are Microsoft-BRANDED player, NOT Microsoft-MADE! These will be in the same group as Dell. Someone else makes them, and the company just slaps their name on it.
Personally, I have to wonder how anyone could put out a player that ‘looks and feels’ as good as the iPod, and still cost ONLY $50. It’s NOT possible, without taking a HUGE loss. That and of course the patent-pending iPod interface (which, if Apple gets, will make it IMPOSSIBLE to make anything that looks and feels as good as the iPod.)
I can’t wait for this to come out…and FLOP! The consumer electronics market is a different arena than the computer industry, and takes a little more than an ultra-cheap price to dominate it. Case in point-iPod!
I guess M$ is taking the Mac vs PC battle to the media player realm. Like PCs M$ media player will be the cheap version of the iPod and wintell users will eat it up just like they do PCs.
The look and the feel can be simular…
Question is : Will it Work ?
I also welcome the competition. Look how well the Apple engineers have done in coming up with innovative products. When faced with some additional competition, they’ll improve and innovate to the next level.
Worrying. I think MS have a reverse world view to Apple. For them the software is everything (and this is sensible in the long-term view). Like the XBox, I’m sure MS will flood the market with loss-leading cheap – and good – music players to grap dominance for it’s media format. Remember, Hitachi is doubling production of it’s micro-drives… could this be to meet MS’s anticipated demand too? Apple has created a huge market demand and awareness – history shows us the danger is: MS will fill it!
Apple has a patent pending on the iPod scroll-wheel. So much for Microsoft matching iPod’s “look and feel.”
People who work for Microsoft should be ashamed of themselves.
“When has one company copied so much so poorly and gotten so many suckers to pay them so handsomely for the privilege of suffering with second and third-rate knock-off products?”
Answer: Never. Microsoft is the undisputed king.
If Microsoft do sell at a massive loss, which they can afford do to, then it will be a huge, huge attempt to abuse their monopoly of the desktop. One would hope that this would not be allowed this time, though of course in the past, they got away with it.
They might be able to do it for 80% of the iPod cost, but not 20% (and be profitable)
m$ may hit the market too late. even windoze users want a good mp3 player after seeing our iPod, but (at least in our circles) they end up trying a 256 mb flash player, hating it, and buying a low priced rio or somesuch. One friend was even bragging recently that they could get tunes from walmart for $.88. I think I need new friends.
I can’t wait to see the first MS music device virus!
That virus shouldn’t take long, Symantec is reporting the first virus for 64 bit windoze today. Affects any computer with 64 bit windoze, even if its running in emulation on a 32 bit machine.
A Couple Of Points
1) Microsoft has a cash reserve worth about 4x the market cap of Apple.
2) With the X-Box, M$ has shown that they are willing to lose money to buy market share. Microsoft still loses money on every X-Box console they sell.
3) Microsoft has long used the strategy of bleeding the profitability from a competitor. For Apple, the iPod is a major source of revenue- for Microsoft it is just another product line. Ask Corel, Netscape, AOL, Apple and soon-Google.
4) Microsoft knows justice is not blind and elected officials are for sale, so don’t count on the US Government.
5) As the Digital Music Player market becomes a commodity device the trick for Apple will be to move the price down without losing quality or performance. Does Apple want to own the market or just dominate the high-end?
F.U.D. and vaporware.
Microsoft is the King of Vaporware. Their users are stupid enough to believe this BS.
Ummmm…maybe I shouldn’t buy that iPod…Microshit is coming out with the same thing…only it will be cheaper…..I hope Walmart has it in stock…..
J’en doute
NoPCZone: Well said!