Zune Phone, iPhone
April 25th 2007 09:10
While the original Zune may not have been much it was simply an entry point for Microsoft, despite many people pronouncing it DOA the fact of the matter is it hasn’t arrived, at least not in full potential.
Microsoft will probably aim to capitalize on Apple’s mistakes with the Zune like it did with the Xbox 360. If Microsoft does want to break into the market Apple has been dominating it will be releasing a Zune phone and it will not be repeating Apple’s mistakes.
The Zune phone will be open market, it will be open platform and it will have its own SDK and perhaps some rudimentary Vista support. The Zune phone won’t be a wholly original product but a modified phone from another company, it will be tried and true.
Now for something controversial, Microsoft wants to end DRM or run with DRM (whichever it finds more accessible) Steve Jobs wants to keep DRM but says he doesn’t because he wants to secure iTunes future in the EU. To that end Microsoft will probably almost wholly wipe-out DRM except from the most stubborn record companies (ultimately this may lead to the end of studio’s role as a Music publisher as a whole but that’s another story).
The reason I think Steve Jobs wants to keep DRM is because he can keep iTunes closed to just the iPod, while iTunes might not be pulling in much right now in a few years that might and probably will change, when it does it will obviously be more profitable to keep iTunes iPod only.
Microsoft on the other hand wants to break into the industry, to do so it has to think in terms of breaking in and forgetting about maximizing profits. TO do so it will have to capitalize on Apple’s mistakes which will mean a loss of potential income but it will mean a massive gain in market share.
If Microsoft does capitalize on Apple’s mistakes with the Zune Phone it will become far superior to the iPhone, despite what fanboys might want to say about Microsoft being a copy-catting evil, it is a necessary copy-catting evil.
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Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
Not quite sure I follow what the mistakes are that Apple have made, but I sure as hell would like to see an end (or consistency) to DRM. It's just format wars all over again...
I think it makes sense for companies to be looking to what others are doing - they need to keep up or outdo. I honestly think though, that from Bob from Budgewoi's point of view (no tech-heads, no fanbois, none of that), 9 times out of 10 Apple comes up with better designed stuff.
By better design I don't necessarily mean tech specs or prettiness, but user-interface more than anything. I've yet to meet an Apple interface I don't like. There's a lot of crap Microsoft ones.
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
btw, this isn't Apple bashing, this is Steve Jobs bashing, not my fault he runs apple
I just think Apple is falling into the trap Sony did, it is overestimating its brand name to sell a product that has almost no relevency to the market. It may sell a few for a while because of the name but in a year or two if there is a better phone coming from Microsoft it will overtake it, I think the tech industry shows best how brand names don't do a company much good for very long and at best act as life support should a crappy product be released.
By all logic the iPhone should just bomb, if you have an iPod you don't need an iPhone, if you are a business man you just might want an iPhone but even then it doesn't provide much a standard smartphone doesn't.
Comment by yoda76
The Tube Blog
You are probably right there - I think the entire tech industry (phones, computers, music players, whatever) is about making the product they can sell, not the best possible product they can make.
If the iPhone sells well for a little while (and let's face it it probably will), then if Microsoft come along with an iPhone killer, then I don't think Apple are going to mind much. If they are all doing their jobs properly, they should be onto the next big seller by then. It's just good business, no?
Comment by Ahmed
Video Gamer Kids
Little Green Foosballs
PolyKicks
It's like they are going back to square one with the iPhone, closed market AND closed platform, makes you wonder who the hell will buy one, I mean even if it is a friggin iPhone it is NOT worth changing to telstra for it.
We'll see when we see, I know I sound like an Apple basher when I say 'bleh, if were going off product the iPhone should only be bought by business people', it's just the god damn truth.