“It is the partnership that threatens Apple’s iPod downloaded music dominance: Bill Gates is openly suggesting that his Microsoft could team up with Sony to get the world’s rock and pop fans to whistle to a different iTune,” Steven Downes writes for The Times Online. “In an interview in today’s Wall Street Journal, Microsoft’s chairman said that the two companies could benefit from a broad partnership in digital entertainment, both having ‘a lot of incentive to work together’ in digital-music ‘infrastructure,’ including online-music services and protection against improper music copying.”
Downes writes, “The iTunes downloading system has proved to be a fantastic success, but it has created a virtual monopoly for Apple, since it is incompatible with other computer software – with the notable exception of the iconic iPod. Since rolling out the iPod, which has sold nearly 6 million units and was a top Christmas gift, Apple has garnered 87 per cent of the market for portable digital music players.”
“The combined efforts of the world’s dominant software supplier and the Japanese-based company that gave the world the Walkman personal stereo in the 1970s would seem to offer a formidable challenge to Apple,” Downes writes. “‘We’ve got to get to the point where people see the choice – the choice of how they buy and the choice of the device they use – as being a huge plus,’ Mr Gates said.” Full article here.
Reuters reports that, “Gates said he had ‘nothing specific to say about a particular discussion’ with Sony about pairing up, while Sony declined to comment on the possibility of a tie-up with Microsoft in the digital-entertainment business.” Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: This past September, the Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun newspaper reported that Apple had offered Sony a partnership in the iTunes Music Store in January 2004. Jobs’ offer was rejected by Sony. As Steve Jobs’ has said in the the past about “choice” in the digital music market, we paraphrase, “Consumers have already made their choice, Microsoft just doesn’t like the choice they’ve made.”
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Report says Apple’s Steve Jobs offered Sony an iTunes Music Store deal – September 03, 2004
Sony just adopted MP3.. this is RHETORIC.. you think Sony’s gonna adopt Windows Media onto.. the uhm.. PSP?
HA!
PS. Whatever happened to competition?
bring it
Maybe they think that two losers will make one winner.
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Sony is egomaniacal. They want their own spotlight.
If I remember correctly, rumours said Jobs approached them and got a big NO in return. Why does Gates think he’ll be any different?
Sony want to do things the Sony way. And why the hell shouldn’t they?
It shows that BG doesn’t think he can defeat Apple on his own. This situation must frustrate him royally…
Sony Playstation… Microsoft Xbox… isn’t Sony a bit mad that the Xbox has been taking bites out of their market share?
Why does each and everyone of these articles start with the premise that Apple needs to fight off challengers, rather than challengers having to fight Apple?
I would take these stories more seriously if any serious dent had been made into the market share of either the iPod or the iTMS. Anyone remember buymusic.com? How did the Dell DJ do this x-mas? How is MS’s music store coming along?
The “formidable challenge” is in dethroning Apple, not Apple holding on to the throne.
/annoyed
MSN music club announced 10 million songs sold..
What do you guys think.. Apple’s selling about 4 million songs a week..
Maybe Steve could offer Sony a partnership deal (maybe one more beneficial to Apple!). For instance, Apple might make Sony, one of the first licensees of FairPlay in exchange for a more beneficial deal on the music in the Sony library (maybe Apple getting a more generous cut of each track sold.)
Another original idea by MS.
Microsoft does give choice. Use it’s current computer OS and you can use every MP3 player made and every online music store out there. Microsoft users are exercising this wonderful choice Microsoft has given them by buying iPods by the millions and iTunes music by the 100’s of millions.
What’s the matter Billy? The choices are working just as you said they would.
Aside from the moron who is suing Apple about iPod/iTMS, I’ve never heard a consumer complain that there isn’t a choice of music stores to use with the iPod. If iTMS was a sub-par store like pretty much all of it’s competition then it may be a different story, but the only people who seem to be complaining about it are people who own sites competing and who want a piece of the iPod pie. Tough!
It’s no different than the Xbox only playing Xbox games. I don’t see Billy Bob having to defend that.
Actually, I think Apple is higher than 4 million/week now.
It took them two months (eight weeks) to sell 50 million songs – from 150 – 200 million. That translates into 6.25 million every week. Or about 10 million songs every 10-ish days.
Not looking good for MS
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Hey, Apple had a swing at Sony, let Microsoft have a chance. All Sony can do is say no twice, right? It’s a free market.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. -Arab proverb
-2- (-2)= 0
-Basic Arithmetic
The CEO os Sony has no love for Microsoft, so I doubt Sony will get into bed with Microsoft anytime soon.
This is just the usual PR say-nothings and an attempt at FUD. It took Sony this long just to wake up and have some of their music players support MP3 instead of being ATRAC only. Suddenly, Sony is going to submit wholly to Microsoft and adopt WMA wholesale, thus ceding control of their music destiny in its entirety to Remond?
I don’t think so.
Besides, a partnership between Microsoft and Sony will still not result in any more WMA music players being sold. You can announce partnerships up the wazoo, but in the end, it comes down to selling players and songs, which only Apple seems to be successful at doing.
“We’ve got to get to the point where people see the choice – the choice of how they buy and the choice of the device they use – as being a huge plus,” Mr Gates said.
Choices?
1. CD or download off iTMS.
(or choose what song to buy off iTMS)
2. Choose what flavor of iPod to buy:
mini? what color?
regular? what size?
photo? what size?
(soon flash?)
3. What accessories to pair with the iPod:
what case?
speakers?
new headphones?
car audio kit?
other accessories?
Only Apple offers a cross-platform solution. Songs you buy on the iTunes online store can be played with iTunes on Macs AND Windows PCs. No such choice with Microsoft.
Sony gets to make the same mistake… twice. Sort of.
When faced with a great opportunity to partner with Apple their pride made them say ‘no’. And they made a terrible mistake.
Now that reality has unfolded and they feel they they have to ‘do something’ to get in on 21st century they will say ‘yes’ and make another terrible mistake.
And because Sony just CAN’T admit to making a mistake or correcting it until LONG after it will help, they will seal their fate for a long time indeed.
I think that Sony has lost it. I still tend to buy their TV sets and CD players and such, because they seem to last a pretty long time, but the last big-ticket item I bought with any sort compexity was a portable DAT machine. Nice specs and features. Very strongly built. Not a moments problem.
About the size of a walkman. But the interface is clumsy, and if I don’t use it or 3 months I forget how to use it. Needlessly complex. Poorly thought out. Sort of like what has happened to Nikon cameras.
Nobody knows how to build interfaces like Apple. Nobody that I can see. Computerization has hit everything, and no one is ready to create products with elegant, understandable interfaces. Other than Apple, who has had over 25 years of practice, and takes it damned seriously.
Much less building something that’s nice to look at.
dv