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Unbeknownst to many, Microsoft put the nails in its Portable Media Center coffin last year, telling licensees it would no longer develop the platform, opting instead to focus on Windows Mobile. The final word came in a public newsgroup posting Friday.
“With the re-investment of resources in media experiences on connected Windows Mobile powered devices, Portable Media Center 2.0 is the last version of our Portable Media Center software under the Windows Mobile brand. We do not plan any future Portable Media Center software upgrades or marketing activities,” wrote Microsoft’s David Bono.
Portable Media Centers first made an appearance in early 2003 under the name Media2Go. Although a number of devices and partners were shown off at the time, the platform was plagued with delays and the first PMC devices failed to hit the market until late 2004.
At which point their health was shaky because of the iPod surge. The final demise was sealed by Microsoft’s decision last year to cut out its Portable Media Center and PlaysForSure partners and build its own incompatible portable media player, the Zune.
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June 29th, 2007 at 2:18 PM
[...] As for Microsoft, besides having a new mobile client for its various server and Web offerings, they now have an additional competitor for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6 in the smart phone space. The iPhone is not a direct competitor, of course, but a competitor for all the phone vendors licensing Windows Mobile. That is a situation eerily reminiscent of Microsoft’s deceased Portable Media Center offering whose OEMs were sunk by the iPod leading Microsoft to do it themselves with the Zune. It’s not even close to “Zune Phone” time yet, but you can bet that both Microsoft and Apple are thinking about the prospect. Filed under Coopetition, Servers, Exchange, Windows Mobile, Apple, Crossbow, Microsoft, Argo, Zune [...]