The portable music industry is becoming more heated with Apple facing off against pretty much everyone else (the mobile phone industry, record labels, Microsoft, other MP3 player manufacturers etc) who want to “kill the iPod”.
Strategy Analytics has released a report comparing the iPod to “4 leading mobile music enabled devices: Samsung E720, O2 XM, SEMC V800 and the SPV500″. The report found a “20-plus point performance gap in perceived music quality“, and Chris Ambrosio, Vice President of device research said: “handset vendors and operators must do better to realize their visions of mobile music revenues and share support. The next wave of devices from Sony Ericsson (Walkman W600) and Motorola, among others, will have to cross the quality chasm, and provide dedicated music hardware to overcome the weaknesses of these first generation products.” Naturally, MacWorld had a field day with this…
Meanwhile, Kiwi columnist Peter Griffin berated Apple for not integrating with Microsofts’ digital rights management technology.
“A large range of music publishers, hardware makers and online music sellers have got behind Microsoft’s anti-piracy technology, but Apple stands alone in ignoring it. The result is that the iPod is now incompatible with most of the music download services and media player software now available.”
Good point, I agree Apple would be better served by licensing its Fairplay technology more freely rather than keeping it for itself, but it’s still the choice of the company. Most people who buy iPods are likely to want to use the iTunes store anyway, and that appears to be the problem people have. Not that Apple is incompatible, but that it has 70% of the market and isn’t interested in making it easier for other people to play…
Mind you, interoperability may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Jupiter analyst Michael Gartenberg indicated that “the plethora of players and music stores that rely on Microsoft’s Windows Media technology are having problems when it comes to talking to each other”, despite the playforsure guarantee. “We tend to call it “PlaysForAlmostSure”,” Gartenberg said. “Meanwhile Apple’s iPod and iTunes are dancing together like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.”
Related stories:
–“Customers Aren’t Stupid” – Jobs
–Bites Off the Apple: Apple Vs Mobile Music
–Mobile Phones Accused Of Planning iPod Death
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