notic

I doubt it. MS will probably keep throwing money at it until it gains respectable marketshare much like it did with xbox, microsoft keyboards and mice, etc.

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Osnabrueck

Unlike Xbox, this isn't a market that can be penetrated with brute force - it's also a market that, over time, won't really exist. It's just moving too fast. iPods as we know them probably won't be around 5 years from now - the brand and the cult of personality that surrounds it is now much more important than the product itself.

Microsoft could throw litterally hundreds of millions of dollars into Zune marketing this year and barely make a dent.

notic

"it's also a market that, over time, won't really exist"

could you clarify that for me? i'm a little dense today after two finals.

Osnabrueck

Digital music players as we know them are a dying breed and being replaced by uberconvergence devices. Apple is wisely eating their own lunch with the iPhone before another device cum phenom struts its way onto market.

So basically - the digital media players of tomorrow will take different shapes.

notic

i get what you're saying but it is rumoured that there will be a zune phone as well to compete with the iphone. i think ms is quite prepared to venture into the mobile electronics market. it's too bad umpc's aren't taking off like they should be, otherwise we'd be able to get something like this: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

sooner rather than later.

far2000

Hey Luw, can u explain what u mean by SSD hard drives and exactly how they differ from the Hard drive in my 30Gb ipod?

Centurion

SSD hardrives consist of flash memories instead of the magnetic disks. Which means less weight, no moving parts and faster reading and writing times. The difference between the iPod and the Nano will basically be blurred out in a year or two.
Now there are even SSD hard drives for laptops and Sony has even put out a laptop with a 32GB SSD drive. It is only a batter of time before Apple launches a 12 inch power book with an SSD drive and an external DVD-drive. SSD stand for Solid State Disk.

Mikael

Notic, do you have Zune or iPod (or some other MP3 player)?

notic

2 ipods. one photo and one video. the photo had an internal failure that mac can't fix.

Osnabrueck

Microsoft may very well have the balls to enter the market with a multimedia smartphone to compete with the iPhone. Problem is, just like the Zune player, it will cost them a fortune to develop and market - and they'll likely just hit their head.

The jury is already out on the Zune brand - it's dead. Why Microsoft would forage ahead to throw more money into pit is beyond me.

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