Microsoft News Tracker

There was a ray of sunshine for Microsoft’s beleaguered Zune last week when it was reported by market research group NPD that Zune was number 2 in sales of personal media players in its first week on the market. The clouds have come out now though as the Zune was reportedly down to 5th in the next week:

Microsoft Corp.’s Zune device dropped to fifth place from second in the U.S. market for digital media players in its second week in stores, market researcher NPD Group Inc. said.

Zune captured 2.1 percent of the market in the week ended Nov. 25, said Stephen Baker, an analyst at Port Washington, New York-based NPD, in an interview today. Baker said Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod remained the leader, with 39.4 percent that week, based on units sold.

Zune’s market share declined as SanDisk Corp. boosted sales with a 50 percent price cut on its media players, taking a 39.3 percent share and knocking Microsoft from the No. 2 spot it occupied in its first week in the market.

Whew, those SanDisk guys play rough - they just missed knocking Apple out of 1st.

Creative Technology Ltd. was third, while Memorex International Inc. was fourth. Walt Disney Co. tied for fifth place with Microsoft.

If the Disney name is unfamiliar in this context, you may not realize that they make MP3 players for kids.

Press release:

Microsoft Corp. today announced significant product line enhancements along with pricing and availability of the Microsoft Expression Studio for creative professionals. The quality of user experience is emerging as a core requirement for differentiating products and services while optimizing customers’ brand loyalty. Expression Studio, a key component of Microsoft’s strategy for improving the user experience delivered by applications, provides designers with an end-to-end tools platform that boosts collaboration with developers in the delivery of next-generation user experiences for the Web, Windows Vista™ applications and beyond.

Expression Studio comprises Expression Web for creating standards-based Web sites; Expression Blend (formally Interactive Designer) for designing rich interactive experiences for Windows Expression Design (formally Graphic Designer) for the design of visual elements for Web and Windows experiences; and a new tool, Expression Media, which provides digital asset management and unifies team workflow across the suite. Expression Web is shipping today, and the full Expression Studio is planned for delivery in the second quarter of 2007.

Actually, Expression Web used to be Web Designer, and they were still using the “Designer” versions of the names on the Expression home page when I looked a few minutes ago. Then there were the original codenames of Quartz, Sparkle, and Acrylic respectively, but I digress.

Product enhancements unveiled today in Expression Blend and Expression Design include a new user interface crafted specifically for professional designers and based on extensive feedback following more than half a million downloads of Expression community technology previews (CTPs). Expression Blend Beta 1 and the Expression Design December 2006 CTP are available for download.

Expression Media, based on the iView MediaPro product acquired by Microsoft earlier this year, supports more than 100 media formats and provides offline access to visual catalogs, making it easier for creative professionals to manage and use their digital assets. Expression Media includes Expression Media Encoder, a complete solution for the preparation, encoding and deployment of rich video and audio for Web and Windows experiences. A first CTP of Expression Media is expected early in 2007.

The iView acquisition was mentioned here.

Also made available today is the first CTP of Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere (WPF/E). WPF/E is a cross-platform browser plug-in for delivering rich media, animation and video content based on the Emmy Award-winning Windows Media^® technology, the industry’s most pervasive media platform for the Web, desktop and devices. Expression Media and Expression Design provide support for authoring content for the WPF/E CTP.

WPF/E has been described as a “Flash Killer,” but it has its work cut out for it combating Adobe’s ubiquitous product. As a whole, Expression Studio is a competitor to Adobe’s Creative Suite and similar Web designer tools. That categorization is apparently important to Microsoft since Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscribers won’t get Expression because it is not for developers, but designers.

Update: Mary Jo Foley has a lot more:

Microsoft is sending out mixed messages, in terms of its Web-design-tool strategy.

First, there’s the positioning. Redmond’s “we plan to complement, not compete with Adobe” rhetoric — which I’m doubtful anyone who knows Microsoft will buy for a second.

And then there’s the partitioning. Microsoft’s decision not to make available its new design products available via its traditional developer channels, like Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN).

Todd Bishop does some heavy digging and discovers that Microsoft settled with HandHeld Entertainment for $1.85 million when they complained that Microsoft’s Zune infringed on their trademarked zvue personal media players.

David Pitt at the AP:

The attorney representing plaintiffs in one of the few state-level class-action antitrust lawsuits left against Microsoft Corp. announced Monday that she would not call Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer as witnesses.

Roxanne Conlin won a judge’s ruling prior to the trial that would have forced Gates and Ballmer to travel to Des Moines for direct questioning even though the two executives were expected to testify later in the case when Microsoft presents its defense.

Judge Scott Rosenberg’s ruling indicated that Gates and Ballmer would be required to travel to Des Moines from Washington only once. That would have allowed Microsoft attorneys to question the two men directly — in effect presenting part of their defense in the middle of the plaintiffs’ case.

Conlin released a statement Monday that said the decision was reached to avoid any potential confusion by jurors.

…
Conlin will be allowed to play a 10-hour unflattering 1998 deposition by Gates from another lawsuit that shows a fidgety, nervous looking chief executive.

I had mentioned the judge’s “one trip” decision here. Gates and Ballmer are still expected to travel to Iowa to testify for the defense.

CNBC has been off the Web for six months after a five year agreement with MSN expired at the end of the second quarter, but now they are back with a splash:

Top U.S. business news cable network CNBC will on Monday relaunch its Web site with a focus on adding more video and investors’ tools.

The Web site of the network owned by General Electric’s NBC Universal has been controlled by Microsoft Corp. since 2001, and critics have said it was little more than an afterthought for the powerhouse cable TV network.

The relaunch aims to bridge the gap between its traditional television operations and new media division, a trend that has swept across a media industry seeking to court consumers, who are as likely to be informed by watching TV as they are by surfing the Internet and wireless devices.

“CNBC and cnbc.com are one and the same,” Mark Hoffman, CNBC president, said in an interview last month.

The new cnbc.com will offer 3-8 hours of live programming daily as well as an originally produced show that will feature its on-air talent Maria Bartiromo, Bill Griffeth and Joe Kernen.

At launch, some 13,000 videos of its interviews will be made available, with 75 new additional videos posted daily.

More details by following the link and from Frank Barnako:

There’s little mystery about why CNBC is redoing its site, only why it took so long.  Buried inside MSN, the old site gave CNBC little opportunity to build its brand.  Adding streaming is, of course, an aggressive move and one which certainly raises the stakes for whatever Fox (NWS) may be planning for its business channel.

Media deals come and go, of course, but it illustrates the quandary facing 3rd parties that consider doing content hosting deals with MSN or any other portal site. As for Fox News, it has apparently gone the other way and struck a deal to provide financial news video content for Yahoo.