Microsoft sees Zune effort a long haul

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It's an interseting issue

I find this interesting because I see this as a situation that helps
define true monopoly. It could be said that at any point early on
in Apple's ascendency, their integration was a competitive
disadvantage. That was certainly what the Windows media crowd
was wanting you to believe. Apple never did anything but offer
lock-in from square one. In this way their behavior has been
consistant. The value proposition that was offered at iTunes
launch, remains essentially unchanged. We can argue that the
potential for a negative shift or betrayal of terms is a possibility,
but we as consumers knew this going in as well. It simply puts a
higher value on trust. This, I think, is one of the reasons Apple
has succeeded. They are simply more trustworthy.

My larger point however is that a "legal" barrier to entry has
been erected. It's just that Apple isn't the one that's done it. Let's
examine it. Apple had 0 patrons on the day of iTunes launch and
as such they were not a monopoly. The value proposition has
not changed and their has been no evidence of consumer harm.
A monopoly can not be destructive unless it prevents
competition and Apple has encouraged it. It has defined and
made obvious what's required to succeed. The lesson is...
integrate. It has done nothing to prevent others from coming up
with their own stack other than succeed and "popularity does
not a monopoly make".

Who has discouraged integration? Who has petitioned all the
other players to rely on their codec and their license? If Real or
Creative or iRiver are not capable of doing their stacks from
scratch, it's not Apple's problem. The Windows codependancy is
the problem. It's the root cause for lack of product diferentiation
and sub par software performance.

Now Zune. Let's welcome it. Let's aplaud this evidence of
competition even if it's a battle of titans. It does us all good.
The only things capable competing with platform is platform. If
not for Microsoft once again torpedoing a litany of partners, we
might have even more.

Posted by: Harry Bardal   Posted on: 07/28/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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