"Microsoft, the technology industry's perennial late-to-the-game player, finally finds itself with a lead in home-entertainment software. It's up to a high-energy engineer named Joe Belfiore to keep it that way," Robert A. Guth reports for The Wall Street Journal. "Mr. Belfiore is the 37-year-old vice president in charge of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Center, a remote-controlled software menu for managing music, movies and other digital entertainment on personal computers and, increasingly, TV screens."

After the October announcement of Front Row, that comes bundled with all the new iMacs, including a remote control, it became clear to everyone that Apple would be coming out with a bigger, better version of their application, which would be a serious competitor to Microsoft's Media Center.
The fact that Apple is only now entering the scene is irrelevant given the performance they achieved with the iPod, taking over a market that was already well established and becoming king of the hill. Moreover, with the new trend towards video content both on iPods and for online download it was something that Apple can tie to.

Front Row has already caused quite the reaction in the Microsoft camp. "Mr. Gates in an email to Mr. Belfiore asked why Apple's remote control had just six buttons. The standard Media Center remote from Microsoft has 39 buttons. Mr. Belfiore's explanation: Front Row computers don't have TV or digital video recorder functions and thus don't need as many buttons."

Mr. Belfiore's observation is spot on. The new iMacs only do playback, but one has to wonder... if that is the reason for the difference, 39 minus 6 equals 33. So... the Microsoft Media Center remote provides the user with 33 (thirty three) buttons that are used for recording. One can be sure that those 33 are just the bare essentials that made it in the final version out of the hundreds of possible buttons that could be placed on a remote to operate recording functions.

In the end it is not only the superior design and simplicity that make Front Row such a big threat to Windows Media Center, but also the content ties. Front Row integrates with the iPod and iTunes and through that, with all the content available on the iTunes Music Store.
With more and more content being made available everyday, the Music Store is in a perpetual growth that at the moment far outmatches anything URGE has to offer.

Moreover, the new silent move on Apple's behalf in which its .Mac service has increased the data transfer capacity from 10GB per month to 1024GB (a terabyte!) per month for select users in what may be a methodical rollout to all .Mac users, couple with the report published by Think Secret on December 2, 2005 could spell big trouble for Microsoft.

In the aforementioned report, Ryan Katz writes: "Apple is planning to unveil a robust new content distribution system in January at Macworld Expo alongside its revamped media-savvy Mac mini. The new content system and related media deals, which will include feature-length content, expanded television offerings, and more, will further cement Apple's increasing lead in digital media delivery. Apple's new technology will deliver content such that it never actually resides on the user's hard drive. Content purchased will be automatically made available on a user's iDisk, which Front Row 2.0 will tap into."

Not only does Apple have the edge in user interaction and simplicity, and in the content distribution, if it also comes out and does what everybody said was not feasible due to the current limitations of Internet connections, and starts offering full length movies, it will gain the definitive upper hand. This coupled with a possible release of a new Mini that is designed to be a digital media hub could very well spell ruin for Microsoft and its Media Center.