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Jay Greene at BusinessWeek Online:
After getting trounced for four years in the digital music business by Apple Computer (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) finally seems poised to do something about it. BusinessWeek has learned that the software giant is working on plans to develop its own portable digital media device to rival the iPod, rather than just providing technology to partners. Microsoft hasn’t decided if it will go ahead. But sources inside the company and at its partners say Microsoft has put together a team that’s considering the business end of such an initiative.
Going forward with it would be an acknowledgement that the current strategy isn’t working. Chairman William H. Gates III has argued that consumers would prefer a vast choice of devices to the limited selection from Apple. That’s why Microsoft has relied on dozens of partners to come up with sleek devices and clever online-music services that use its software.
More by following the link including Xbox VP Peter Moore’s comment that it should be a portable gaming device as well as a music player (Xpod?), and Creative Technology’s CEO Sim Wong Hoo’s observation that such a move would undercut Microsoft’s efforts to get widespread use of their digital media technology.
Microsoft’s reliance on hardware partners in the PC space has kept them out of the notoriously low margin side of the business while still allowing them extensive control of hardware specifications across the industry. The Microsoft forays into PC related hardware have always seemed to be to fill gaps that partners weren’t covering and then were promptly followed by withdrawals as the market matured (e.g. Wi-Fi networking). The only one remaining is the longtime operation making keyboards, mice, and game controllers.
The Xbox is a different animal, of course, and perhaps a different model applies to portable music players as well. Steve Jobs thinks so:
The problem is, the PC model doesn’t work in the consumer electronics industry, where you’ve got all these companies and some does one thing and another does another thing. It just doesn’t work. What’s going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of making MP3 players. This year. X-player, or whatever.
In any case, the story gets a sort of left handed confirmation from a Microsoft spokesman
A spokeswoman for the company called the BusinessWeek story “speculation,” but confirmed that Microsoft was considering its own music player, along with many other projects stemming from a major reorganization announced last year.
That was the reorganization which installed former Xbox boss Robbie Bach as the head of the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division and he apparently has big plans ([1], [2]).
Microsoft Puts High Definition Technology in the Palm of Your Hand
Microsoft Corp. today unveiled a new line consisting of six powerful High Definition products: five new mice and a cutting-edge High Definition Laser desktop. Whether at work, at home or on the go, users can now choose from this exclusive full suite of High Definition Optical and High Definition Laser mice for superior performance on the PC.
Microsoft’s new cutting-edge High Definition Optical and Laser Technology is two generations ahead of standard optical and laser mice…
And the result is 1000 dpi and 6000 FPS among other benefits.
The lineup is 3 new notebook mice (Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 6000, Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000 and Notebook Optical Mouse 3000), 2 new desktop mice (Wireless Laser Mouse 6000, and reintroducing the Wireless IntelliMouse® Explorer as Wireless Optical Mouse 5000) and the Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 which is a wireless keyboard and mouse combo of the Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 and a Comfort Curve Keyboard (apparently a special model).
Separately announced were the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Comfort Optical Mouse 3000, and Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 with improved ergonomic features. Details on the new Natural Ergonomic Keyboard are here.
Also, a Laser Gaming Mouse With Enhanced Functionality was announced.
