Microsoft IPod 'Killer' Is Doomed

Filed in archive Business Trends on August 2, 2006

Earlier today I passed along a blog entry about Microsoft's Muse product called "What does George Jetson think of Microsoft?" So it is only fair to present a contrary opinion from the folks at Wired Magazine.

The summary of the article is this: Microsoft's iPod killer is doomed to fail.

"Prior to Friday's announcement, some were calling the new device the "mPod" (Microsoft + iPod) killer. But given Microsoft's typically tone deaf approach to usability and Apple's market lead it will be a miracle if its next nickname isn't the "iClod" (iPod + clone + awful)."

They list all the normal reasons why everyone loves to hate Microsoft no matter what product is being talked about. But one point stands out.

In the PC market, it may have worked to sell software to hardware manufacturers, but the inclusion of DRM in today's MP3 players makes them a different animal. Managing complicated, evolving DRM technologies requires the sort of complete control Apple has over the iPod ecosystem -- software, hardware, DRM and music store.

The best alternative would be to dump DRM altogether and go with unencrypted MP3s -- a position advocated recently by Yahoo. Record labels aren't likely to support that, however, and their resistance effectively forces Microsoft to compete with a copy-restricted alternative.

This a rich irony, given how badly the record labels would love to see someone -- anyone -- create real competition for the iPod and iTunes.

Microsoft seems to have belatedly realized it can only hope to surmount the DRM obstacle by copying Apple's unified approach. This may be Microsoft's only remaining move, but that doesn't make it a winning one.