“While the mainstream media is conspicuously quiet on Microsoft’s track record in consumer electronics, I’m more than willing to share! Considering how many industry giants have partnered with Microsoft in WMA and PlaysForSure–including WalMart, Napster, MTV, WMA hardware makers, and RIAA label members–it would appear that Microsoft is a leader in successful consumer electronics technology. That’s not the case,” Daniel Eran writes for RoughlyDrafted.
Eran writes, “All of these partners hooked up with Microsoft simply because they had no idea of what to do on their own. Few even experimented with their own independent technology plans; they simply picked Microsoft because the company seemed like a safe bet at delivering technology. They obviously didn’t do their homework.”
Eran writes, “The big secret they missed is that Microsoft hasn’t ever earned significant profits in the consumer hardware business, nor has its executives proven any business acumen in delivering what consumers want in hardware or creative entertainment, excluding, of course, Microsoft’s impressive and highly sophisticated keyboard and mouse division.”
All Microsoft has delivered in the consumer electronics industry is a long string of failures:
• Phones & PDAs
• Tablets, Handheld PCs & Origami
• WebTV, Ultimate TV, and MSN TV
• Xbox game console
• WMA and PlaysForSure (“Zune is too little, too late.”)
Full article with much more here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
MP3.com founder: ‘Zune will be an expensive failure for Microsoft because consumers aren’t stupid’ – October 06, 2006
Microsoft fails to secure key Zune domains – October 04, 2006
Microsoft rigs Zune with tricky pricing and proprietary money schemes – October 03, 2006
Why Microsoft’s Zune won’t kill Apple’s iPod – October 03, 2006
10 Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune myths – October 02, 2006
Analyst: Zune could lead to ‘civil war’ between Microsoft and Windows Media partners – September 29, 2006
Thurrott on Microsoft’s Zune: ‘The makings of a disaster, what the heck are these people thinking?’ – September 29, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune’s as good as dead on arrival – September 28, 2006
Microsoft sets 30GB Zune price at $249.99 – September 28, 2006
How Microsoft’s Zune can kill Apple’s iPod – September 21, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune insanity – September 21, 2006
The Microsoft Zune 1.0 dud – September 20, 2006
Microsoft’s underwhelming Zune a ‘viral DRM’ device – September 18, 2006
SanDisk teams with RealNetworks against new common foe: Microsoft Zune – September 18, 2006
Creative does Apple’s dirty work by immediately attacking Microsoft’s Zune – September 17, 2006
Motley Fool’s Jayson: Microsoft’s ‘just plain ugly’ Zune a meager offering, not an iPod killer – September 15, 2006
What’s in a name? ‘Zune’ a French-Canadian euphemism for penis or vagina – September 15, 2006
Crave at CNET: ‘Microsoft Zune, all the excitement that brown can bring’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune underwhelms – September 15, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft Zune ‘a design mistake’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft hypocrisy exposed with Zune: What ever happened to ‘choice?’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune won’t spoil Apple’s biggest iPod Christmas ever – September 14, 2006
Microsoft unveils Zune 30GB player, Zune Marketplace; declines to disclose prices – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft Zune is chunky brick made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft to spend hundreds of millions, several years on Zune trying to catch Apple iPod+iTunes – July 27, 2006
Zune: Apple cannot lose. Microsoft cannot win. – July 26, 2006
We have quite a pattern going in the news today:
Apple in trouble with stock options, so let’s bang away at how bad Microsoft is.
No problems with MS stock options? Oh that’s right, it is flatlined for the last 5 or so years. No windfall profits there.
maybe from a profit perspective but it has buzz and has given a new dimension to the ms juggernaut.
the others are true failures through and through, tho.
Hey, that’s not true – Microsoft have had great success with.. ummm… keyboards and mice 😀
Simple explanation: Microsoft is in a downward spiral.
And we’re going to enjoy every minute of it…
Oh and get Daniel Eran’s article Dugg.
I would not call the Xbox a failure. The rest is.
MDN shows its alter ego here . . . BMDN : Bash Microsoft Daily News . . . .don’t get me wring I love it!
I know someone out there is thinking “this isn’t about Apple”
BTW where are all of our beloved trolls around here? They seem to be hiding under their bridges lately.
Well lets put it that xbox woul be a faailure for any company that couldn’t afford to lose appalling amounts of money propping it up. technically it is better however hovering around the average mark and totally incapable of knocking Sony off it mountain depite over a years start and pricing to go bust by. But accepted there are various forms of success and for MS that means dead in the water right up to hanging onto the deflating lifejacket for its products.
So, you don’t think Spark is a troll?
There is a movement out there to paint Steve Jobs with the Enron brush and Spark is in the thick of it.
The Xbox is a failure in that it hasn’t made Microsoft one dime of profit yet, and it won’t for many years to come, if ever.
Microsucks is like your little brother who tags along wanted to be as cool as big brother.
Origami, remember that?
No, neither do I.
Did any manufacturers actually release any Origami products?
MW: ANYTHING except Microsoft
The Xbox is a failure in that it hasn’t made Microsoft one dime of profit yet, and it won’t for many years to come, if ever.
In that case the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PS2, and most all other consoles of recent history were all failures because the hardware never made a dime of profit for the manufacturer either.
(Hint hint, the Xbox was an overall success, the Xbox 360 is a success and a pinnacle among gamers & developers…..winning marketshare is much more important than the hardware sales as it’s the software titles themselves that pay off for Microsoft in the long run).
Linking undeserving articles to backwater sites like “roughlydrafted.com” is typical of MDN.
they can’t be that bad, i have a lovely intellimouse explorer 3.0 for years, only thing of theirs that hasn’t crashed on me
Here’s a hint for you: making money is what businesses exist to do. If a product does not break even for a business, it is a failure, in terms of the usual business. Whatever Microsoft is doing, it sure isn’t doing it well enough, if it has to subsidize Xbox in order to compete. Think about what you’re saying for just one second! The product sucks so much that it causes the company to lose money on each product sold. You don’t exist in business very long with that topsy-turvy outlook.
The old saying goes that you can’t fight a two-front war. How many fronts will Microsoft compete on and lose? They’re getting hammered in the search space, in the console space, and will be soon in the portable music player space. While they’re busy losing in each of these areas, the foxes sneak around and take a few more eggs every month. Way to focus, Microsoft.
the xbox, a failure? i thought….it was….had, market share?
“BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots”, why don’t you follow your own advice and crack open your own skull? You obviously have NO clue as to how console manufacturers make thier money. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony LOSE money on each console…..and make their profits on royalties for each game sold. It has absolutely nothing to do with “the product sucks so much it causes the company to lose money on each product sold”. EVERY console is “subsidized” by their respective manufacturer….for you to single out Microsoft just shows how utterly ignorant you are in this matter. Next time get a clue before making uninformed statements.
Don’t forget this little baby. Few remember the Dishplayer. MS stuck it to Dish Network with this bug ridden box of parts. Luckily, Dish saw the train wreck coming, so they took the hit and cancelled the contract and created their own PVR. Literally saved the company.
http://www.epinions.com/elec-Video-DSS-All-Dish_Network_Dishplayer_500
i have to admit that they did a decent job with Xbox. which is weird for MS