Microsoft plans on offering up a challenge to Apple's incredibly successful iPod device. Podcasting News reports that Bill Gates said Microsoft is talking to other companies about making a competing player.
QUESTION: Is Microsoft going to develop a handheld like MP3 player to combat iPod, Apple's dominance of the last year?
BILL GATES: Yeah, Apple has done a fantastic job with the iPod. How many of you have iPods? OK, some.
Well, we are talking with partners about how we working with those partners can make even better music players. We've got some in the market today. I'd say in total they may have about 20 percent market share, which is lower than we like and so we're seeing where we could come together to make a device that's less expensive and connects in better ways, does photos and videos in better ways.
And so I don't think what's out in the market today is the final answer, but again it just shows the magic of software; Apple did a very good job on iTunes, did the user interface design right, and so that means we'll have to match all that good work and do something even better.
So between us and our partners, you can expect to see some pretty hot products coming out over the next couple of years.
Microsoft will certainly be playing catch-up in music players just like they did with the Xbox in video games. There is also an open-source player called Songbird that recently launched.
