Microsoft iPod Rumours Gather Weight

Written by Adam Gosling

Thursday, 06 July 2006

That Microsoft is working on a media player and integrated content delivery system to rival the iPod/iTunes success story should come as no particular surprise to anybody. Apart from the obvious desire to get on the revenue bandwagon, it's an area Microsoft can't ignore as its existing WMA partners, such as Creative, have comprehensively failed to challenge the iPod in any meaningful way. Microsoft really doesn't have much choice than to throw its significant weight and ability to bring in partners to mount a challenge to the runaway success that Apple has enjoyed over the past few years. And rumours of a Microsoft challenge to the iPod have been around for months at least, but so far the company has denied it is working on such a project and no news room has really been able to come up with enough evidence to seal the rumour into fact. Now Reuters might be getting a little closer to standing up the story as Microsoft, which must be getting closer to an announcement is forced to detail its plans to a broader range of partners. The latest advances on the rumour seem to be coming from the music industry, a set of partners Microsoft needs to sign up before any iPod/iTunes competitor can become a reality. According to reports from "sources close to the matter", says Reuters, Microsoft plans to have its mobile digital music player in the market in the US in time for the Christmas buying season - obviously this project is turning out to be easier to pull together than a new Office suite or operating system. The player will have the ability to download music and video's wirelessly (sounds like a 3G music phone without the phone to us). Anyway, sources suggest that the recording companies will get prototypes to play with in a matter of weeks. "They're proposing an iTunes model approach," the first source told Reuters. "They're now interested in controlling the whole vertical stack of technology from the device to the service to the software." Robbie Bach, appointed president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division in December, is working with J. Allard, vice president of its Xbox team, on the unnamed digital media player/software project, according to a source that spoke to Reuters. And if Microsoft's desire to control "the whole vertical stack of technology from device to the service to the software" comes as a surprise to you, you may also be surprised to hear that sources suggest "Microsoft will be throwing significant marketing dollars behind the launch". Related news items Nokia Adds PlayReady -06/08/2007 iPhone Gets Enterprise Credibility -16/07/2007 Microsoft Flexes Its Muscle -06/05/2007 Microsoft Reports Record Profit -29/04/2007 Google Presentations App Has Melbourne Links -17/04/2007 Newer news items Mylo No Go For Oz -10/08/2006 Mobile Music - Car Makers Plug Into iPod -05/08/2006 Nokia Sells 1 Million 3250's In Under Four Months -12/07/2006 There's No Pool Here, But I Want One For The Beach -10/07/2006 Via Make Ultra Mobiles 40% Smaller -07/07/2006 Older news items 3 Free Speakers With The New Nokia N91 -05/07/2006 Digital Free To Air In Your Pocket -28/06/2006 Let's Face It. The iPod Is Doomed -15/06/2006 M2 Adds Optus, Engin In Quick Succession -30/05/2006 How Mobile Is This? iPod Gets Sporty -28/05/2006 Tag This Now: