Jobs on 'open' iPod

[Quarkie]

Microsoft, the Adept...

Microsoft to undercut iPod by 80%
...as excerpted from:
Microsoft to undercut iPod price with player

Good for Microsoft, and ultimately, good for the consumer. At least someone is paying attention and knows how to market to the commodity consumer market, not to mention how to own a segment and set standards. They've got it absolutely right and will, no doubt, reap the reward.

This will certainly make for an interesting holiday shopping season, and will dramatically accelerate the erosion of any market position the iPod now holds. Too bad, but on the bright side, Apple has $250, 6-week-lead-time iPod minis to compete with the $50 (probably subsidized) Microsoft product.

Goodbye iPod, hello WMA player for the masses.

 

[ingenious]

Microsoft to undercut iPod by 80%
...as excerpted from:
Microsoft to undercut iPod price with player

Good for Microsoft, and ultimately, good for the consumer. At least someone is paying attention and knows how to market to the commodity consumer market, not to mention how to own a segment and set standards. They've got it absolutely right and will, no doubt, reap the reward.

This will certainly make for an interesting holiday shopping season, and will dramatically accelerate the erosion of any market position the iPod now holds. Too bad, but on the bright side, Apple has $250, 6-week-lead-time iPod minis to compete with the $50 (probably subsidized) Microsoft product.

Goodbye iPod, hello WMA player for the masses.

Ha. You really think its good for the consumer that a monopoly player company has joined the race? With Apple, they're getting a quality device that comes with a quality piece of software: iTunes *and* the iTunes Music Store. When has M$ ever released a good product? If you say Windows XP, I'm gonna laugh in your face! I just fresh installed and I now have more problems than before! Talk about great software!

 

[daveg5]

dang $50 dollars is too cheap, I still have a 128MB Creative unit i got because of sound in for $129 years back, I am a songwriter. I was about to buy the $99-$150 Ipod that never happened. I dont have $300 for a player with audio in. if Microsoft can give me a 1GB for $50 I will buy, sorry Apple, but what happened to the one they already showed that plays video also. if Apple can stay within $50 about Microsoft's best price on comparable product then I will stay with Apple.
Apple may do what it did in the past and refuse to break even or take a loss on any hardware, even if that means giving up market share like it did with the Mac. Hp will make a clone though, too bad there isn't a Sony Ipod clone, or Panasonic, etc. Microsoft will probably have many clones of its mp3.
Oh well the ipod Dominance was good while it lasted.

 

[Quarkie]

This is definitely good for the consumer. There is a matrix of reasonable features, reasonable price, a software profit model, maybe a service contract-based strategy, and mass marketing of an audio standard that eludes Apple. However, this kind of model will enable the masses with digital music on single and converged device platforms in the hands of a more market-adept company like Microsoft.

Microsoft releases lots of good and "good enough" products, albeit not some without problems, like those of every company. Apple has great, leading-edge design and integration, and also has its share of problems. Should we talk about iPod battery issues? Should we talk about PowerBooks that catch on fire? Should we talk about the OSX 10.2.8 updater? Should we talk about Performa lock-ups? There's a pretty long list for both companies, actually.

As for XP, are you sure you're not having hardware trouble that is unrelated to the OS?

Anyway, Apple has had a 3 year head-start in digital music and, unfortunately, may soon have to watch that lead evaporate unless they can find a way to expand their market, quickly. iTunes and iTMS are great, but they're just software. There's nothing mysterious or difficult about them that will prevent another player from creating a comparable, suitable consumer solution.

 

[sambo.]

my two cents......

the deal with HP is good for all concerned.

the microsloth move is not unexpected.

i rekon Apple should license out the making of iPods to more and more manufacturers (albeit with some sort of quality guarentee built into the bargain), the real money on the deal will come from content licensing anyway and that is a more long-term revenue stream than the initial sale of the unit.

i can understand why they don't want anyone else selling songs, forcing iPod/clone users to the iTunes shop, but the best way to beat redmond is to get many manufacturers signed up to build iPods and not the microsloth version.

to the person who said M$ can write good software, well, yes, they can. eventually. it only took nine years for them to get windon't to the level of OS 8.6. bloatware for the masses? no thanx.