BeerFiles is a sometimes irreverent blog concerning all things to do with IT, technology, people and the media from the point of view of a hard boiled technology journalist and commentator. Stan has been in the IT game for about a quarter of a century. He has seen and written about the rise and fall of more than a few IT players and made many friends, some of whom he has even crossed swords with on occasions. Everything in this blog is purely Stan’s opinion so if you agree, wish to expand upon, correct a post or tell Stan he’s a clueless know nothing, please feel free.

Zune and iPod is not a PC versus Mac re-run

by Stan Beer

Wednesday, 15 November 2006

Microsoft has waxed lyrical about about how it will be a long and hard road to knock Apple and iPod off their perch as the dominant forces in the music player market. What's more some pundits actually take this seriously. However, this is not a PC versus Mac re-match. Back in the mid 1980s when the Mac burst on the scene to vie for dominance of the new desktop market with the PC, it was clear which machine was for business and which was for the home. The PCs were absolutely primitive compared to the Mac but they were open and they were backed by IBM, the business computing king. Back then, no-one said Micosoft PC - it was IBM compatible PC. Then Microsoft, with the help of Intel and some bad decisions by Apple and IBM, managed to sneak into the dominant position of first the business market and then everywhere else. Microsoft, as its name suggested, knew exactly what business it was in. Apple, which had by far the better operating system, wasn't sure and got slaughtered. The online music space, however, is a totally different kettle of fish. Apple has shown the world how to dominate that market in a way the company never did with the Mac. It developed the killer model in a similar manner if not execution as Microsoft did with the PC running MS-DOS and later Windows. What we have with the iPod is an iconic stylish music player and what we have with iTunes is an online entertainment marketplace that is far and away better than any other and good enough to marginalize the illegal file sharing sites. The tight coupling between the the two parts of the Apple music solution irritates some with its DRM but most accept it because everything works so well. Now Microsoft wants to come along, take the money burning a hole in its pocket and take some of iPod's marketshare with a clumsy attempt at a copy of iPod with a few added extra features and many missing. No doubt some will liken this to the black screen PC crushing the wonderfully illuminated Mac with a superior business model. However, no such comparison exists. The Zune has exactly the same business model, with an inferior player, a vastly inferior online music store and no street cred with the hip music listening crowd. So far, the big differentiator being touted by Zune has been it's wireless sharing capabilities. But even this has been criticised as unproven and severely deficient in many aspects. Anyway, Wi-Fi is hardly rocket science these days - Apple could very well do the same or better in future models of iPods. With the PC, Microsoft appealed to the business user and succeeded. Apple didn't know that market and got beaten badly. With Zune, Microsoft is trying to go up against a competitor who knows its market much better than Microsoft. Jobs and company have proven many times over that they know the music and video business. In this space, Microsoft is just a beginner and with Zune it shows.{moscomment} Tags See All Tags Apple  Microsoft  Zune  iPod  iTunes  Powered By Joomla Tags Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment!

 

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