Microsoft developing a rival to Apple's iPod [Reuters]

[balamw]

Why do I have a sense of deja-vu?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060616/tc_nm/media_microsoft_apple_dc_7

One source, who has seen a demonstration of the service, said it was an improvement over iTunes.

"They have been developing technologies that have really good music discovery and community," another source said. "iTunes is the 7-11 (of music stores). You don't hang out there."

I thought people did hang out outside 7-11s...

B

 

[MisterMe]

...

I thought people did hang out outside 7-11s...

This won't be their last mistake if they go through with their plans.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Yeah pretty much the only hangout in my town is the parking lot of the 7-11, which is pretty sad cos the parking lot is like ten by twenty feet. And what's even sadder is well, I guess nevermind, you can't expect like a book club meeting to taking place there. It's pretty much what you'd expect to find.

 

[allison1217]

anyway ,Microsoft is such a big guy we can't underestimate its potenial, just as its big idea of the Xbox

 

[MisterMe]

anyway ,Microsoft is such a big guy we can't underestimate its potenial, just as its big idea of the Xbox

Big idea? For all the hoopla and praise garnered by the original Xbox, it never earned a profit. The new Xbox 360 is an even better machine, except for the fact that they have experienced problems requiring a recall. The Xbox 360 continues the financial drain on the company. You can't keep selling product at a loss hoping to make it up in volume.

 

[Phobophobia]

The one source is probably Bill Gates.

 

[Timepass]

Big idea? For all the hoopla and praise garnered by the original Xbox, it never earned a profit. The new Xbox 360 is an even better machine, except for the fact that they have experienced problems requiring a recall. The Xbox 360 continues the financial drain on the company. You can't keep selling product at a loss hoping to make it up in volume.

M$ admited that they never intended to make money off of the orginal Xbox. They made it to get into the market.
Heck they stated at the beginning that they where not even going to break even on the Xbox project for 8 years. They stated that they are in it for the long haul and they are proving it and doing a good job at it. Going from a new player in the conseal market it to number 2 and pushing Nintendo Gaint down to 3rd place and working on pushing PS out of being number 1.

Also the amount of money the Xbox project is a cost M$ is pocket change. Heck I think M$ is going to break even on the Xbox until the 3 or 4 generation of it.

 

[Phobophobia]

Microsoft isn't going to break even--just break.

 

[MisterMe]

M$ admited that they never intended to make money off of the orginal Xbox. They made it to get into the market.
Heck they stated at the beginning that they where not even going to break even on the Xbox project for 8 years. They stated that they are in it for the long haul and they are proving it and doing a good job at it. Going from a new player in the conseal market it to number 2 and pushing Nintendo Gaint down to 3rd place and working on pushing PS out of being number 1.

Also the amount of money the Xbox project is a cost M$ is pocket change. Heck I think M$ is going to break even on the Xbox until the 3 or 4 generation of it.

Being a Microsoft fanboy is a certainly a personal choice, but it is a poor business strategy. Microsoft's stock price peaked in 2000. It has been on the decline since then. Microsoft has been trying to recover by expanding into new markets. The gaming market is one, but it is one in which it cannot leverage its monopoly position in Intel-based operating systems and office productivity apps.

Back in the day when its stock price was rising, only three of Microsoft's seven business units were profitable. In this post-Y2K world, Microsoft has tried to bolster profitability by dropping non-revenue software titles like Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player for the Mac. Its effort has not been altogether successful because massive security issues forced it to revive Internet Explorer.

The key to success in today's market is to limit your efforts to the things you do best. Microsoft rejects this basic principle of 21st Century economics by clinging to its illusions of world domination. As a result, it finds itself unable to maintain its bread and butter. Windows Vista is a joke that loses feature after feature while still in development. (I am on record with the assertion that Vista will never be released.) Office is going down that same road.

No matter what Microsoft does in the gaming market, its gaming division cannot offset declines in Windows and Office. Hold on the the illusion that the Redmond Monopoly is going to leverage several years of Xbox losses into profitability. Crazy? I remember when Bill Gates was worth $100 billion. He is worth a lot less now.