Zune- A Major Threat To Everyone Except Apple

The media has been hyping Microsoft's Zune as an 'iPod killer', a phrase meant to shock and impress, but with little basis in reality as so far, the only player to dethrone the iPod has been another iPod. With this in mind and the fact that Apple has a very strong brand following, Microsoft faces quite an uphill battle if it is to scratch Apple's market share.

That is not to say that Zune will be unsuccessful, but whatever success it will enjoy will not be at the expense of Apple's iPod, but rather, everything else. Incidentally, all those other players out there are actually Microsoft partners who sport the 'Plays For Sure' logo. Additionally, it has been said by many over time that the reason anybody can compete with Apple is because of the iPod-iTunes-iTunes Music Store combination which up 'till now has no equivalent, however if rumors are to be believed, Microsoft is working on something similar, as the Zune player will not be interacting with Windows Media Player, but with some other application what will most likely also interact with their store.

"If Microsoft is successful, the expectation is that it will initially hurt existing partners more than Apple," Joe Wilcox, analyst for JupiterResearch, said Monday. Michael Gartenberg, another JupiterResearch analyst, agreed, saying Microsoft is unlikely to find many disgruntled iPod users. "We certainly haven't seen a whole lot of complaints from that quarter," Gartenberg said. "When you have such a dominant position as Apple, it usually means you've done something right."

Things must look pretty bleak for all Microsoft partners who will now not only be facing competition from Apple, but also from Microsoft itself, all the while shipping out products with 'Plays For Sure' plastered on them and playing licensing money to Microsoft, their competitor. Meanwhile Microsoft stays away from the entire 'Plays For Sure' thing and Windows Media Player and instead uses what is probably a better program and service. With partners like these, who needs enemies� 'Played For Sure' would be an amusing thing to see companies displaying.

"I can certainly feel the backlash brewing among the current non-Apple device makers, who are basically about to be cut loose on their own. Some are talking about abandoning PlaysForSure as a platform, since Microsoft gets that licensing money," Mike Kobrin writes for PC Magazine.

But this is not just about players and songs; it is also about formats and standards. Microsoft loves formats, especially when they are industry standard and they own them. This is one of the main reasons that they dislike Apple's dominance so much; it poses a threat to their formats. iPod owners who use Windows are not going to keep their music in different programs and formats and will want to have it all in iTunes, and if they have iTunes, they also have QuickTime.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, they are going about it the wrong way, by alienating their current partners. When all those partners get fed up and drop 'Plays For Sure' and their ties to Microsoft, what will happen if Apple steps forward and offers to license them FairPlay? At that point, Apple's format will become the undisputed industry standard, while Microsoft's will become a niche player, and it will be too late for them. Even if Microsoft then realizes what has happened and tries to get back in good terms with their former partners, the current backstab will most likely not be forgotten, and there is the other choice. Who would choose any Microsoft solution for their player when they could have access to FairPlay and all that it implies?