Microsoft formally admits iPod killer in the works

Posted Jul 21st 2006 6:28PM by Tobias Buckell
Filed under: After the Bell, Press Releases, Products and Services, Industry, Competitive Strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Marketing and Advertising

Well, it took long enough. Microsoft has formally come out and formally admitted that it will be trying to take on Apple's popular iPod player this year yet with a Microsoft media player. A statement talking about and confirming its plans came out just today. Certainly everyone has been aware of this and speculating about the details, but it's nice to see the formal acknowledgment.

The player will be released as part of the Zune brand. The interesting note is that J. Allard, the vice president of the Xbox team, is involved in this, which means Microsoft is trying to replicate its success in becoming a gaming company, and that this is certainly indicative of Microsoft worrying about becoming a media and entertainment company as much as an OS company.

The statement mentions trying to duplicate the iPod's ease of use and simplicity. But I'll believe that when I see it.

Tags: ipod, ipod killer, IpodKiller, microsoft, zune

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-22-2006 @ 10:04AM

abc said...

I have a hard time believing anyone can compete with the Ipod, and I have nothing against MS. I own a Nano and I think its amazing, the next one I buy (whenever that is), I won't even consider other products because I'm just that happy with it.

7-22-2006 @ 3:50PM

CrossProfit said...

Can the Xbox sell in Japan? No!
Does MSFT have a game plan for Japan? No!
Why not? According to MSFT Japan is not an important market!

The real reason is that MSFT doesn’t know how to develop proper associations with the gaming industry. We don’t see MSFT fairing any better with the music industry.

Why do you think that MSFT is capable of taking on AAPL? MSFT knows software and has not demonstrated to date that it can do anything right in the hardware retail market except consistently lose money.

Until there is a total culture change at MSFT, Zune is out, i-Pod is in.
By the way, who says the Xbox is a success and by what measure?

Disclosure: This comment was written by a CrossProfit analyst. This is a personal view and may not reflect the opinion of CrossProfit.com.
http://www.crossprofit.com

7-22-2006 @ 7:16PM

zune said...

There was a lot of speculation when MS went up against the Playstation, but they did really well. I can see how the wifi will really set the zune apart.

7-22-2006 @ 7:20PM

zune said...

There was a lot of speculation when MS went up against the Playstation, but they did really well. I can see how the wifi will really set the zune apart.