Friday, 28 July 2006

Microsoft Says Zune Will Take Years to Beat iPod

Microsoft has announced that it is launching iPod competitor Zune this fall while admitting that beating Apple’s iPod will not be an easy task, in its financial analysts meeting.

The company said that taking on iPod could take up to five years of investment and stressed that it is ready to invest "hundreds of millions of dollars" on its new music efforts.

"This is something that's going to be a three-, four-, five-year investment horizon," said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft entertainment and devices group.

Microsoft said that its music player will have two features the iPod doesn’t. The first is Wi-Fi connectivity and the second is an interface with its Xbox game console. "We're not just introducing Zune to do the same thing that other people do," Bach said.

Bach said Microsoft hopes to create a similar sense of community with Zune that it has with Xbox Live, allowing users to share music playlists and video, and learn about things like upcoming concerts.

Apple computer launched iPod four years ago and has been a successful hit with as much as 58 million of them sold in shapes and sizes. Apple currently controls nearly 75 percent of the market.