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November 7, 2005
From the anti-iPod Department
Microsoft is increasing their anti-iPod efforts. There are the goofy "taglines" added to the playsforsure logo for Audio and video devices and software. The "checklists" that accompany the Plays for Sure logo are hilarious -- http://www.playsforsure.com/ItemDetail.aspx?id=26 They may actually succeed in lowering returns but I doubt it will increase sales.
Of more interest are the behind-the-scenes efforts...foremost, the effort to standardize their Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) through the USB Implementers Forum. It won't be the first time that Microsoft offers a technology to an industry standard body (they've done this with WMV9 for the digital cinema industry) but it would be the first to my knowledge at the driver (read: OS component) level. Device manufacturers have to be questioning themselves how tied to Windows is the MTP infrastructure -- that is to say, will any other PC operating system ever support MTP? The PC is still the digital media hub and the place where all media collections are stored.
The next step in this effort from MS is to standardize portable device connectors (as in docking stations for automotive). There is a large ancilliary industry behind the iPod which does not exist elsewhere because of the fragmented nature of the market. The No. 2 player only has about 7% of the market. Standardizing the physical connector, the software protocols to control the devices and eventually the way the content is represented (some XML specification, I presume) will allow companies building products that connect to portable music players to support only two standards: iPod and non-iPod (or MS, if they have their way). Going the open standards route is enables MS to be open and trustworthy but I imagine it slows down the process considerably which must frustrate them to no end.
Posted by raza at November 7, 2005 3:09 PM
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