Have you been a loyal iPod user? Like you have been through the different variations and incarnations of the iPod? Engadget has reported that there is an iPod killer and its existence has already been confirmed. To quote Engadget:
Reuters is reporting that “sources familiar with the plans” have confirmed that Redmond is indeed working on a portable media player, along with an iTunes-like service to feed it content
Killing off the iPod in terms of popularity is going to take quite a while. After all, the marketing success of Apple especially when it comes to iPod is too awesome for words. However, Microsoft is already known for its software and it powering handheld devices. Why not a mediaplayer that would ‘dethrone’ iPod from its place? Microsoft and Apple both might have started with software for computers but in this day and age, multimedia (like music and videos) and gaming are other segments of the market they could compete in.
What is the advantage of Microsoft?
It already has a nice marketing strategy itself. This is a boon for the company. Aside from that, a lot of people use Microsoft products already. Maybe if they could neatly integrate the service similar to iTunes, it would be beneficial for them too. Here’s the thing, if Microsoft could also offer a ‘lifestyle’ — it might be the ‘end’ of the iPod. But it might be something temporary as there are other mp3 and media playing gadgets available.
Or who knows? Maybe by that time there would be such portable computers that it wouldn’t really matter. iPod or whatever media playing gadgets there are, there might be better ones in the future. It’s not just a matter of what is the iPod killer. It’s more of what kinda of innovations are upcoming.