Samsung’s iPod nano killer software created by former Apple Mac, iPod designer

“When Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, decided to mount a serious challenge to Apple Computer’s iPod music player early last year, it turned to a little-known Silicon Valley software start-up with a cluttered one-room office tucked away here in a building above a mortgage title company,” John Markoff reports for The New York Times. “The result of that partnership is Samsung’s newest Z5 portable MP3 player, which will appear on store shelves March 5. The software inside the player was forged at Iventor Inc. by a small team of programmers led by Paul Mercer, 38, a veteran Apple Macintosh software designer.”

“Samsung’s decision to hire Mr. Mercer is significant because Apple, in designing the original iPod four years ago, turned to Pixo Inc., the company Mr. Mercer founded after he left Apple in 1994 to create software for hand-held devices,” Markoff reports. “Apple used Pixo software to create the music player’s simple interface, and Pixo’s name appeared in the credits of the original iPod MP3 player.”

“Samsung is betting that it can win a share of the music market dominated by Apple by using new software that mimics what is found in powerful PC’s,” Markoff reports. “The Z5, shaped like a stick of gum, has a 1.8-inch color screen and a 35-hour battery life, and is priced at $199 to $249 to compete with the iPod Nano, which costs $149 to $249. Early reviews have been positive, and Samsung is hoping that the Z5 will work smoothly with the range of subscription music services that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure digital music standard.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Hoping? Sheesh. The definition of the word “failure” in the digital media player market: “Hoping that [insert name of digital player] will work smoothly with the range of subscription music services that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure digital music standard.” Samsung’s not going after Apple; at best they’re going after SanDisk.

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