“In a bid to capture the huge audience for handheld entertainment gadgets, Microsoft is designing a product that combines video games, music and video in one handheld device, according to sources familiar with the project,” Dean Takahashi reports for The Mercury News. “The Microsoft product would compete with Sony, Nintendo and Apple Computer’s products, including the iPod. And Microsoft has some of its most seasoned talent from the division that created its popular Xbox 360 working on it. Game executive J Allard leads the project, and its director is Greg Gibson, who was the system designer on the Xbox 360 video game console. Bryan Lee, the finance chief on the Xbox business, is leading the business side of the project.”
“By anchoring its entertainment device as a handheld game player, Microsoft is starting from its position of strength in the entertainment business that it hopes Apple cannot match, even with its iPod. The game press has dubbed it an ‘iPod killer,’ but its functions would likely more closely resemble Sony’s PlayStation Portable multimedia gaming device,” Takahashi reports. “Meanwhile, Microsoft’s efforts in PocketPC handhelds and Portable Media Players have fallen short in competition with the iPod. Last week, Microsoft unveiled Project Origami, a handheld Windows computer. But that device isn’t targeted on pure entertainment as the Xplayer is. The existence of these other projects suggests that there is still some infighting within Microsoft about its best approach to portable gadgets. The handheld project is still in its early stages. Microsoft is still figuring out which strategy to pursue in music technology, according to sources familiar with the matter. The code name for its music service, which would be the equivalent of Apple’s iTunes, is ‘Alexandria.'”
“It could be 2007 before the device hits store shelves. That gives rivals such as Sony, Nintendo and Apple considerable time to consolidate their position and come up with their own new gadgets in the meantime,” Takahashi reports.
More details in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The number of iPod and iTunes “killers” currently sitting on death row is uncountable. All of them are tied to Microsoft in some way or another. The only true “iPod killer” and “iTunes killer” is Apple. We heartily encourage Microsoft to keep throwing their money away on a market they’ve already lost long ago.
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Microsoft says it is going to do everything. Search engine, iPod killer, video game system, Media center, I think they even have a Windows XP powered toliet planned. I think the only thing they have done right was the Xbox.
All you need to know about this is summed up in this short sentence excerpt:
“….Microsoft is designing a product …”
I guess those iPod Hi-Fi speakers introduced were “Bose Killers” and “BoomBox Killers”, right?
As Apple knows 2% of a market (computers) can be very profitable.
—-
MDN comment: “The only true “iPod killer” and “iTunes killer” is Apple.”
Gee…how long did you have to twist your brain power up to think up those words of nonsense?
I’m planning an iTunes and iPod killer as well.
“”It could be 2007 before the device hits store shelves.”
Which, in MVT (Microsoft Vista Time), would actually be the year 2012. It’s the same year that OS X 11.0 Tabby, the tamest OS of all-time, will hit store shelves.
How is this different from Origami?
Nolan,
Business 101…get your facts straight.
Macs have a larger share of the global computer market than 2%.
In the US they are at 4.3%
http://www.macobserver.com/article/2005/10/17.16.shtml
and a 4.5% share globally (and growing rapidly)
http://www.architosh.com/news/2005-07/2005c-0719_appleback-aec1.html
There is no way that a niche product like the Hi-Fi will function as a business driver in the same way as the iPod or a full computer do.
It’s not that the hi-fi is a killer of anything but rather another choice (good or bad) for an ADDITIONAL amplification system. They are likely quite inexpensive to build and offer Apple another revenue stream with minimal risk. Smart business.
The MDN Take is based on the rather remarkable fact that Apple KILLED the most successful mp3 player in the world in the mini iPod to replace it with the iPod Nano. In other words, they are the masters of their own fate in
the marketplace, unlike so many competitors.
From what I have notice from a long time of reading the san jose mecrury news, they always seem to look down upon Apple. Come on cheer for someone in your own backyard for once.
Look at that article, its like a hype machine. Everyline is with a !!!!!!. You know whats funny about MS is they want to put all those other things in a portable device, but that will only get techies to buy it, not the masses. I don’t think kids, women and older people would even want all those features in a music player. They just want something simple.
it’ll cost too much and nobody will buy it, this is what they dont understand
Whth the backing of Microsnot’s marketing team, their software progrrammers are going to re-release Pong but in color! That will be an iPod killer. You just watch heheheheheh!
Scheduled for release at the same time as PS3 to counter’s Sony’s attempt at producing an XBox killer.
Geez, Microsoft, why stop there? Why not take on Nokia, Norelco, Texas Instruments, and Bernz-O-Matic while you’re at it? I’m sure there a huge market for a combination handheld game machine, movie player, music player, cell phone, razor, scientific calculator, and propane torch! That Microsoft, always thinking small.
“And Microsoft has some of its most seasoned talent from the division that created its popular Xbox 360 working on it.”
You meen the same Xbox 360 that’s at best an update to the previous generation Xbox, that no one cares about while waiting for the PS3 and Nintendo Revolution. Wow! I’m impressed, I can’t wait!
and it will have wheels to make it portable..
The biggest barrior to this plan is that it screws all the other manufacturers of iPod-like devices that are on-board with MS DRM and media deployment.
MS had a win with the X-Box because it had the segment to itself, but when they deploy a media player that shafts Creative Labs, SanDisk, SamSung and others there will be massive hard feelings and a possible backlash that would not be worth it to MS.
MS could launch a trojan media handheld disguised as an X-Box handheld to compete with the PSP and then endow it over time with additional iPod-like capabilities. This would again shaft the other media player manufacturers and ultimately cause weakening support for MS media technology and slow down adoption of MS DRM.
That’s the problem with being everything to everybody, everywhere you turn your burning a supporter.
Apples proprietary approach has its own problems but with the iPod they’ve got the whole game to themselves. Now if Apple would endow a forthcoming large screen handheld with gaming capability and garner support from content authors it’s hard to say how big Apple could become.
One thing is for sure, MS will have a damned hard time coming to market with a well thought out device before 2010.
The beauty of the iPod is its simplicity. I don’t need something that does everything but clean my house (I could use something to clean my house, but that’s another story…). Most of the time, I just want to listen to music, or maybe catch a video or two (or more when I’m stuck waiting at the doctor’s office); if I want to play a video game, I’ll stick my Nintendo DS in my daypack.
The iPod appeals especially to the commuter — I see tons of them on transit around here. How many of those folks are really going to be interested in a game player? (With the advent of the Multi-Pass, it’s not too far fetched to imagine short newsmagazine-style programs available for morning download; maybe ABC would even supply Nightline for folks to view the next morning on the train, but that’s a bit off-topic.) Plus, the success of the product is dependent on the media available; I’ve resisted getting a PSP mainly because I haven’t really seen any games that I’m interested in playing, and when I’m on the go I don’t really have time to watch a full-length movie (barely have time to get through some of the TV shows on the iPod Video). I haven’t bought a game console since the old SNES — haven’t really seen any games worth investing in a console for.
Once again, Micro$oft can’t come up with their own ideas, so they have to cobble together the best of the iPod along with a bit of PSP, and it’s going to be a disaster…far from killing the iPod, it’s going to showcase the iPod’s simplicity and ease of use. (Though the iPod could stand some improvement, like an easier way to scroll through a huge song/video list…)
I hear, MS will also bring out a vacuum cleaner to break the strangehold of Hoover over consumers. But alas, unlike all other MS products, it doesn’t suck.
No one should underestimate MS. They’ve proven on more than one occasion that they can take the market. Remember Netscape, Wordperfect, Lotus 123, Nintendo…
And unlike Creative and many other smaller players, they can throw money at this ti’ll the cows come home.
How is this different from most other MDN “news” stories?
“It could be 2007 before the device hits store shelves. That gives rivals such as Sony, Nintendo and Apple considerable time to consolidate their position and come up with their own new gadgets in the meantime,” Takahashi reports.
ANY new player will have to make a quantum leap in design, functionality or ease of use, to have any impact on Apple’s iPod.
A product that won’t be available until sometime in 2007 will have to exceed not only current iPod specs, but the specs of iPods not yet announced.
Since introducing the iPod, Apple has consistently raised the performance bar of music players, even going so far as killing its best seller (iPod mini) long before its time.
Then there is the issue of third party accessories. It would take a huge surge in sales from a new player to attract a tiny portion of the manufacturers for iPod accessories.
Apple can’t rest on its laurels, but they don’t have to do much more than that to maintain their enormous lead in this market. Now consider that Apple is aggressively raising the competition bar.
I am not blind to what a behemoth like MSFT could do, should they get it right, but I am not concerned at this time. MSFT has to many competing interests within, to focus the energy necessary to take on iPod in a serious manner.
All these iPod doomsday reports fail to acknowledge that the iPod, while it may be marketed to a younger demographic, is used by every demographic because it’s a music/video player and does that well. When these fools throw in a video game player, thinking it’ll kill the ipod, they shoot themselves in the foot because video game players narrowling focus on a specific demographic. Most people who want a music player will stick with the ipod without the need to pay extra for a video game player that they don’t need.
Good luck with that MicroShaft!
the ipod music type market is maturing.
you know anybody that doesn´t have one?
plus u gotta´ have a computer, high speed internet connect and credit card to buy music for it.
There are several companies out there that have true iPod killers. They are GE and Maytag. The killer is called the washing machine. Run your iPod through one of those babies and it’s dead (although, there have been reports to the contrary). I think that they should put out a report on their iPod killers because their claims could actually been seen as a representation of facts. My GE washing machine at home killed one of the shuffles in the house. It was a sad day. Please make charitable donations in lieu of flowers.
Still lots of people who don’t own a MP3-player – in Asia to be precise.
iPod presence is still extremely low there.
Microsoft might conquer the world through this backdoor.
At least, if they have the Xbox-people design the player and the software.
Which they probably don’t.
In what way is the XBox a success?
PlayStation outsells it 3:1, and as far as we can tell, MS loses money on every one it sells. Not very many people are going to need to buy an awful lot of games to make that turkey fly.
And, as pointed out earlier by Macs King, I am sure the Samsung, Creative, iRiver, et al feel very good about this new product. Very good, indeed.