Samsung Steals the Brain Behind the iPod

An anonymous reader writes "The New York Times reports that Samsung has hired the same programming genius who helped make the iPod so great to design its own music player. They imply that the new Samsung device is just as innovative." From the article: "Samsung's choice of Mr. Mercer also shows how much consumer electronics now rely on the powerful computing capabilities that defined personal computers two decades ago. Samsung is betting that it can win a share of the music market dominated by Apple by using new software that mimics what is found in powerful PC's. The Z5, shaped like a stick of gum, has a 1.8-inch color screen and a 35-hour battery life, and is priced at $199 to $249 to compete with the iPod Nano, which costs $149 to $249. Early reviews have been positive, and Samsung is hoping that the Z5 will work smoothly with the range of subscription music services that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure digital music standard."

Comments

So now Steve Jobs Throws a Chair?

[putko]

So does Steve Jobs throw a chair now, and yell, "Anybody but Samsung!!"

I bet not.

He probably meditates on it, then eats a miso sandwich.

Re:I wanna know what happened to

[kalidasa]

Z1, Z2, and Z3 were destroyed by terrorists. Z4 simply disappeared, mysteriously; nobody knows what happened to it.

Re:What I like about the Koreans

[afaik_ianal]

You give them an idea and they can clone it better than anyone.

No, no. They just claim to clone it. On closer inspection, you'll see that they faked their results :P. /ducks

Re:I wanna know what happened to

[SQL Error]

Nah. Z4 burned down, fell over, and sank into the swamp.

Re:I wanna know what happened to

[AndroidCat]

The Z stands for Zathras. And Zathras, Zathras, Zathras and Zathras aren't as good as Zathrus at playing music. Zathras is the best at that, except for Zathras. Zathras used to being beast of burden. Zathras have sad life, probably have sad death, but at least there is symmetry.