by Playfuls Staff |
16th October 2006
Microsoft is trying its luck in
digital music market with a portable player, which will be available in
November. Microsoft’s iPod killer, called Zune, will feature a 30 GB hard disk,
a 3 inch LCD screen, an FM tuner. The retail price of Zune will be $249.99.
Zune is considered as the most important [more] competitor for Apple’s iconic player,
iPod. you may know already all that, but what you are going to find out is what does Steve Jobs have to say about Zune.
In an interview with Newsweek's
Senior Editor Steven, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs says he is unconcerned that iPod
might lose its cache because it’s too popular. "That's like saying you
don't want to kiss your lover's lips because everyone has lips. It doesn't make
any sense," he tells Levy. "We don't strive to appear cool. We just
try to make the best products we can. And if they are cool, well, that's
great." Jobs talked to Levy on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of
Apple's iPod, and cooperated with Levy's upcoming book about the iPod,
"The Perfect Thing,"
Jobs also said he is unimpressed
with Zune, Microsoft's answer to the iPod, which allows users to exchange
songs. Zune promises wireless connection, meaning that two people, who possess
those kind of players, will be able to exchange among themselves images, music
or play lists without having to use any other equipment. There is of course a limitation;
the transferred songs can be played only for three times during the next three
days.
"It takes forever,"
says Jobs. "By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up
and left!" Jobs add that while the iPod and iTunes will evolve, music will
always be the core. "It's hard to imagine that music is not the epicenter
of the iPod, for a long, long, long, long, long time ... Music is so deep
within all of us, but it's easy to go for a day or a week or a month or a year
without really listening to music. And the iPod has changed that for tens of
millions of people, and that makes me really happy, because I think music is
good for the soul."
Jobs explain the decision to keep
prices at the iTunes store at 99 cents a song despite pressure from the record
labels to raise them. If iTunes gave into that pressure, says Jobs, "many
[users] will say, 'I knew it all along that the music companies were going to
screw me, and now they're screwing me.' And they would never buy anything from
iTunes again. We would never recover their trust."
Last month, Microsoft revealed
that its player will be accompanied by a
music service, called Zune Marketplace, which will let people buy songs individually
for about 99 cents or to subscribe for $14.99 a Zune Marketplace will offer 2
million-plus songs at launch.
With its new player and music
service, Microsoft hopes to challenge the iPod + iTunes domination, but it
won’t be a simple task. One by one, Creative, Samsung, Sony and others tried to
compete against this iPod phenomenon each with their own players, more or less
different from the famous iPod. Bigger storage capacities, more colorful
display options, longer battery life compared to the iPod – decided to attack
Apple's player, the producers tried every option and possibility hoping to hit
the jackpot.
And Microsoft is aware that it’s
going to face a tough competition. Speaking about Zune, when Microsoft revealed
the technical details, Jim Allard warned not to expect the Zune to challenge
the iPod overnight. "The digital music
entertainment revolution is just beginning," Allard said in a statement.
"With Zune, we are not simply delivering a portable device; we are
introducing a new platform."
The Zune follows a successful
Microsoft template for challenging market pioneers by entering the market late,
relentlessly improving its products and using its huge cash reserves to drive
down prices.
The most recent example of the
success of this strategy is the Xbox 360 video game console, which is now
taking market share from the Sony Play Station four years after Microsoft
entered the lucrative market.
