RE: Apple's Music Business Being Looked Into By Justice Department

AKwyn — Thu, 27 May 2010 23:59:36 GMT

I don't know. Every day I think to myself, "Is Apple becoming the new Microsoft?" and in a way. I find that to be true more and more each day. Basically iTunes is the most popular music store there is, mainly because they associate it with the iPod and the iPhone (which sell alot btw), There are other choices but like the article says, not one of them works as well as iTunes. The mac version is good but I don't particually like the Windows version for one reason, forcing me to install QuickTime. Since Windows 7 included the codecs to play the same files QuickTime to play, what's the point in having QuickTime anymore.

And then there's the propriatary stuff. Apple is basically the only company that I know of (if there are any others...) that make you send your Mac to Apple if your battery has died, so not only is there some issue with this but they're forcing us to rely on Apple instead of some third party for batteries. While I do appreciate the long lasting batteries that Apple makes, I do not appreciate having to rely on Apple for simple things I should be able to do myself.

Also, we should be able to configure our machines the way we want to. I mean the Mac Pro is the only easily configurable machine there is, and that's a machine for workstations. Now if only Apple can make machines that we can upgrade instead of forcing us to buy the next iteration for thousands of dollars.

RE: Two Major Microsoft Entertainment Execs Depart

AKwyn — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:54:44 GMT

[quote user="3vi1"]

>> Seems like a strange thing to do with Natal coming out the door soon.

I think this is probably a mutual thing:

Despite the kind words, Microsoft surely wants these guys out so that they can try to shake things up (companies always think that will help, for some reason).

The problem for MS is that they're nowhere near where they expected to be in the entertainment market at this time. Just a handful of years back, Ballmer would have told you that Nintendo's already dead, Sony's death in the console war is imminent, and that everyone will be using Zunes and other devices running Windows Mobile by 2010.

Instead, Zune and Windows Mobile have almost no market share, and despite a YEAR HEAD START and a boatload of money poured down the drain they are now down to a 12% lead against the PS3 in sales for this generation... and so far behind the Wii that it makes your head spin. Amazingly, the total market value of MS the company is now only 11% above Apple's,

What's in the future for MS? Probably loss of console ground to Nintendo's next box, since they'll come up for hardware refresh first... and even more loss of mobile ground to Android and OSX, And, if history continues to repeat itself, the next Windows version will suck so loudly as to give Android/Linux/OSX another few percent of desktop converts.

I think these two guys are smart to get out now, in a time where they will still be perceived as coming from "the" successful company.

[/quote]

Well J. Allard is not technically getting out. I agree with most of what you said, I think the problem is the fact that Microsoft is notable for making buggy, corporate and copied items and many people just don't see themselves as a customer or would even stick with them through the long term, even in 2010. I mean when the Zune was released, many people thought of it and still see it as an iPod clone, even though it had features such as a better interface, and an FM radio. Even thought the Zune HD has many advantages over the iPod touch, it's still behind because of one thing. The iPod brand recognition and the fact that the iPod Touch has a lot of apps on there that can make iPod touch owners hold on to their iPod touch for basically... forever.

I think it's just the way Microsoft's life goes. They're able to make a product that has some advantages over the the iPod or PlayStation/Wii but they're unable to market it right, even though they have billions in marketing dollars. I think the future for MS would be basically a Xbox 360 refresh with a little bit of those juicy DX11 features built into it, I don't think that the Wii 2 will be much of a threat unless they can think of a way to re-revolutionize the motion controls. But with competition in the motion sensing area, I don't know who's going to lose out. But I do think that Microsoft's Project Natal and Sony PlayStation's eye/wand combo are major competitors.

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RE: Apple's Music Business Being Looked Into By Justice Department

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