Microsoft developing new devices to rival Apple iPod
23/7/2006 10:41
Microsoft Corp announced on Friday it is developing an iPod killer to take
on Apple Computer Inc. in the US$4 billion market for portable entertainment
devices.
The first products go on sale this year and are being developed
under the code name Zune, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said in an
e-mailed statement.
This signals that Microsoft is abandoning a strategy of
relying on partners to produce devices with its Windows software to compete with
iPod, analysts said.
Microsoft so far has failed to dent Apple's 77 percent
share of the US market for digital music players.
Microsoft expects its new
service to rival Apple's iTunes, but even with its own product, Microsoft has an
uphill climb, said the analysts.
According to sources familiar with the
company's plans, Microsoft is building a device that has wireless Internet
access so customers will not have to connect to a computer to download music --
a feature the iPod does not have. Microsoft is also promising a better-quality
screen then the iPod, the sources said.
Still, Microsoft will face difficulty
matching Apple's appeal both with consumers, and media and entertainment
companies, like Disney.
Apple's iTunes music store is used for 72 percent of
music downloads, while Microsoft's store represents 3 percent.
Microsoft's
statement, however, provided no description of the products. Apple said it had
no comment.
Shares of Microsoft rose US$1.02, or 4.5 percent, to US$23.87 at
4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They have
declined 8.7 percent this year. Shares of Apple gained 22 cents to US$60.72 and
have fallen 16 percent this year.
Xinhua
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