“Harmony is just a slap in the face for Apple. Current iTunes Music Store (iTMS) customers will have no strong incentive to switch stores. Rhapsody will also face an uphill battle in trying to win over new iPod users, especially when access to the iTMS comes conveniently packaged with the iPod. For all its controversy, Harmony does not hit Apple where it hurts — it does not enable iPod clones to play iTMS songs,” Tim Goh writes for The Motley Fool.
“However, Apple will still be upset by this move. If it had intended for the iPod and iTMS to be unlocked, it would have done so earlier, on its own terms. RealNetworks has forced Apple’s hand early, and Apple will probably seek to stop RealNetworks by either legal or technological means. The latter is easily implemented. Apple can simply issue a firmware upgrade that doesn’t allow Harmony to be downloaded when a user fires up iTunes, and Harmony would become merely background noise,” Goh writes.
Full article here.