“In its latest bid to compete with Apple’s stunning iPod success, Microsoft is considering investing in or even buying portable device maker Creative, and potentially other device makers. In the meantime, Microsoft is working to ensure that Creative’s products integrate better with Windows Media Player (WMP), a capability that will be key for WMP 11, due in beta form this November. After initially promising that Creative would beat Apple in the MP3 player market, the company now plans to simply ‘survive,’ which is a slightly lowered outlook, I guess. Unless Microsoft plans to purchase Apple Computer, I don’t see how it will ever stem the flow of iPods coming out of Cupertino. It’s newsflash time, guys: Get used to being number two,” Paul Thurrott writes for Windows IT Pro.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: The number two digital media player in terms of market share? Technically, it’s HP with their lineup of “Apple iPods by HP.” Some “lost cause” and so much for “plowing aside,” huh?
Before Apple announced record iPod sales, their highest quarterly Mac sales in four years, and record earnings and revenues, Thurrott latched onto a BusinessWeek article that wrongly predicted flat iPod sales. Thurrott wrote, “Apple… isn’t immune to the natural ebb and flow of business cycles and consumer demand. And all we’re seeing here is an arguably overdue correction of Apple’s recent spate of incredibly good fortune.” Of course, Thurrott was wrong again.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Thurrott: Windows-based music services will plow aside’ Apple’s iTunes Music Store – April 15, 2004
Thurrott: Apple iPod by HP ‘a lost cause and completely uninteresting’ – August 27, 2004
HP adds ‘Apple iPod shuffle from HP’ to digital music player line – July 01, 2005
Apple smashes street with record revenue, earnings; shipped 6.155 million iPods – July 13, 2005
Hewlett-Packard adds ‘Apple iPod mini from HP’ to iPod digital music player lineup – June 02, 2005
Hewlett-Packard expands branded iPod lineup, announces ‘Apple iPod photo from HP’ models – April 12, 2005
Hewlett-Packard-branded Apple iPod to debut Friday – August 26, 2004
The shuffle is a temporary buffer between the HD based iPods and the other flash players. It’s mainly there to prevent potential iPod buyers from going to a competing flash player because they don’t have enough money. It doesn’t matter that much that it’s sales numbers can vary in a country from time to time.
I have a Shuffle, and I don’t mind not having a screen, but I see it as the main reason why Sony got some share of this market. Hopefully, the shuffle won’t remain screen-less forever.
No iTMS in Japan as the reason? Please… don’t fool yourself, the iTMS doesn’t sell iPods, it’s rather the opposite. The iPod is/was successful in iTMS-less countries, and the vast majority of iPod users don’t buy tunes online (try to fill a 20 Gig iPod with tunes at 99 cents a piece, just for fun).
The Sony player is crap. It won’t play iTunes music, you have to lug the connecting cable around with you if you plan on plugging it into your computer, and it costs much more than an iPod Shuffle.
Do not underestimate the nefarious ways of Microsoft in their desire to be #1. I cannot reveal my sources but apparently Microsoft has made some sophisticated deals that will give them a world wide monopoly on a technology of distributing music known as the 8-trac.
Scary isn’t it?