After continually getting its butt kicked by Apple in the portable media player market, Microsoft has finally wised up and could be considering its own branded entry according to BusinessWeek. Bill Gates once had a very different idea on what Microsoft's approach should be to the iPod dominated market. Here's a clip from a February 2005 ABC interview with Mr. Gates:
It's their, only their one music store, only their device. What we're doing is providing choices. So it's like the Apple computer versus the PC. With the PC you can buy from many companies so you get cheaper prices, you get more variety and here with music devices we're coming in with the same. But they're a strong leader in the space and I think as we gain share, people will be surprised.
Well, Bill's hopes didn't pan out and Apple saw its share of the music player market explode from 52% in 2004 to 67% in 2005. To combat this growing phenomena, Microsoft's only choice may be to put its marketing muscle behind its own entry into the already crowded field (which it helped to clutter).
The question though is how would Microsoft market such a device? The company could lump it under the Xbox brand, but that may limit its appeal and relegate it to being labeled as just a gadget for gamers. The company also runs the risk of alienating its partners that already use Windows Media technology on their portable media players. The stakes in this market are high, but Microsoft has money to burn as can be witnessed by the original Xbox. Will they do it? Your guess is as good as ours...
