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Microsoft's iPod Competitor On the Way

Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 9:20 AM - by Staff

Steve Balmer, Microsoft's CEO, confirmed that his company is planning on releasing something to take on the iPod, but didn't say exactly when. In an interview with Fortune, he said that Microsoft sees convergent devices as the way of the future, and that eventually people won't want to carry both a communication device and a music player.

Mr. Balmer said that Microsoft wants in the communication/entertainment device game, and to expect some announcements in the next 12 months.

Fortune also asked if he owned an iPod. Mr. Balmer replied "No, I do not. Nor do my children. My children--in many dimensions they're as poorly behaved as many other children, but at least on this dimension I've got my kids brainwashed: You don't use Google, and you don't use an iPod."

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DeepDish said:

member since 25 Jun 2001 with 57 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:30 am

Good God, Monkey Boy's seed is functional.

"Give it up for me"

What a lamer!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:45 am

Don't even bother. It's over, you're too old, nobody listens to Microsoft. I can only wonder if your ipod device will be as exciting as that mini-tablet-pc-what-the-f-ck that just came out and that three people are going to buy.

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Dreadnought said:

member since 01 Jan 2005 with 162 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:52 am

I wonder if Monkey-Boy trained his offspring not to use Google by throwing chairs at them. Aversion therapy, anyone?

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 11:53 am

This from the same fool that claimed his kid had nothig but stolen tunes on his iPod...

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:00 pm

even when it does come out, it would have to ramp up, by then apple will have maybe 60-70 mil ipods sold. and if they were to sell half as many in 12 months as the did in 4th quarter, 7 mil, MS would have to ramp up to that, which took apple 3 years to do.

this isn't a slam dunk, even for M$. they are too late to game.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:07 pm

I guess he forgot he already brain washed his kids with windows!

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mahuti said:

member since 09 Jan 2003 with 377 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:47 pm

I like how he used the negative "brain-washed." Brain washing usually refers to making someone think they want to behave in a manner contrary to what is good for them. You dont' often talk about brain-washing your friend to quit smoking, or say something like "I brainwashed my kids to brush their teeth before bed every night." You usually hear about somebody getting brainwashed to believe in a crazy cult or to do cruel stuff to someone else.

It's refreshing to hear that Steve Ballmer at least understands that brainwashing is the key to getting people to use his products, rather than simple marketing.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 12:47 pm

Can you honestly see a communications, game, video, music device being any good at any of those functions? Can you see it competitive on weight and size compared with an iPod? There is little point having a' be all' device if it is big, heavy cumbersome, awkward to use and disadvantages you have to suffer no matter how you use your device and even when you don't need or intend to use those other functions most of the time. In that case far better to have efficient separate (or at least less of an all rounder) devices to use how and when you wish. Not only that but this device is no more than a PSP some 2 years late. When a PSP can be the size of an iPod without the loss of performance involved in miniturization then a convergence device has legs (it will need them) but that scenario is years away at best. SB just (as usual) not get it at all. More can be good, too much on the other hand is a users nightmare.

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burreyeann said:

member since 25 Feb 2005 with 1144 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:09 pm

I especially liked this comment by Monkey-Boy:

Quote:
Who is better to deliver an ad, a computer that knows about you and can target you, or an ad sales guy who's walking around?

Just what I want; to be "targeted" with pop-ups and spam!! I don't think I'm alone in saying that unsolicited e-mail and pop-up web ads SHOULD BE OUTLAWED!!

You know, Monkey-Boy is the best example of of an old saying:

It's not WHAT you know, but WHO you know!

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:26 pm

Psssst. I bet Ballmer's kids WANT an iPod, and use their friends', when Ballmy boy is away at the office.

Give it up Ballmer, the iPod horse has left the stable. All you can do now is release your best 'me too' imitation and get a small slice of the market. Oh well, that's what happens when you follow, instead of innovating.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:59 pm

I bet I, an anoynmous loser, could release an iPod competitor that I would build in my basement that would be better than anything MicroÑžoft could come up with.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 2:15 pm

I can perfectly imagine a handheld that's a good phone, a good game boy and a good iPod. I don't think I can see MS make one that appeals to me, but gods, such a machine would indeed be cool.

IF, big if, if the phone would be simple, just your basic, cheapest nokia, one, two years ago.

IF, not such a big if, handheld game machines are already beautifully simple, if the game part would be spectacular but simple.

And IF, pretty big if, if the music part would be iPod-like in controlling.

Now, if you know what a PSP or a gameboy looks like, the only hardware KISS problem would be to integrate a numeric keyboard. But I can see a good industrial designer (Ives, you home?) do good stuff on that. And that beauty would have great hardware and screen for video and pictures. IF they keep that part simple as well.

That machine could easily work for young people. Old asses like me would just go for the Nokia, the iPod and forget about the games... But it wouldn't have to fail for being bloated.

We're already surrounded by multi-function devices and small PC's. I think it's relatively easy to dumb down such a thing to do three very very well defined functions very very well. I think it's safe to say that the bulk of research and consumer experience on gadgets of the latest five years already is in those areas: games, phones, music players.

And remember, if you're talking handheld games, your average buyer would be 8->21, not 37.

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JulesLt said:

member since 06 Jul 2005 with 136 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:24 pm

'So Little Ballmer, what do you want for Christmas'

'I'd like an iPod'.

'Well, let's see what Santa brings'

-----------------

'What's this piece of s---?'

Ave age of PSP owners is 21+. 8-21 year olds don't have high disposable income. History also suggests appliances specialise more often than they converge. (Kitchen appliances and tools are a great example, or DIY tools). I'm not ruling it out, but the PDA has long been a device looking for a mainstream audience.

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 279 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:04 pm

Balmer is not the only one to realise it; a phone and an iPod, done right, would kill. In fact, this should be a no-brainer! I have two iPods in my home. I recently got a Sony-Ericsson Walkman phone (free after some rebates) that has 256MB for MP3/AACs, shoots 1.2 megapixel pictures and (crappy) video, has bluetooth and USB... It is definitely NOT an iPod, but I no longer carry my iPod with me. I was able to finagle my iTunes songs (unprotected) onto it and it works well. The ability to use voice command to answer the phone (and pause your music) is just perfect. ROKR and SLVR are approaching this, but I'm convinced that it will take Apple (Ives) to design the perfect marriage of the two. While I agree in principle that applicances generally specialise, Swiss Army knives were there forever and are still there. Some functions blend very well; others don't. Music and phone (with a bit of gaming) are most natural of combinations. I'd be surprised if Apple didn't have this in the pipeline (perhaps '06 Christmas season?).

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:18 pm

The iPhone, anyone? No doubt Apple is going in the same direction that lumbering ol' Ballmer is, but they'll do it better than Microsoft will.

I don't agree, however, with the supposition that multifunction devices will 'kill' the iPod. As The Economist pointed out in a very good article sometime back, multifunction and dedicated devices will co-exist more or less happily. There will always be a simplicity and cost advantage to dedicated devices like the iPod, just as there will always be folks who don't need or want a 'Swiss Army knife' electronic device.

Just look at Nintendo DS vs Sony PSP sales to see what I'm talking about.

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A guest said: (hide)

Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:26 am

Isn't Ballmer the #1 for the axe? After recent upheaval at M$ over senior management incompetency (more likely impotency ...

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tbone1 said:

member since 13 Jul 2001 with 3981 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:12 am

burreyeann wrote:
You know, Monkey-Boy is the best example of of an old saying:

It's not WHAT you know, but WHO you know!

Actually, it's what you know about who you know that matters.

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