Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft To Construct iPod/DS/PSP Killer
Karsten writes "According to The Mercury News Microsoft is developing a PSP/DS/GBA/iPod-killer. J. Allard is leading the project." J. Allard is the man behind the Xbox, and from looking at the article it sounds like it's at least a year before this device, if it hits daylight, would be coming.
Dammit, can't they make a Windows killer?
This guy's the limit!
I've said it before and I'll say it again--for the love of god, please stop printing mindless headlines of the form "[insert company name here] is [planning/making] a [insert industry-wide leading product name here] killer."
My work here is dung.
Not to troll but .. I'm sorry, its from Microsoft .. its surely going to have an Intel chip (Mobile EXTREEEEEEEEME Hunger Eddition) and run WindowsCE(meNT) loaded with more DRM than you thought possible from a mobile .. the only thing this is going to "kill" is batteries ...
This won't work, but we should all know that already know that. You can't just stick all the available technology into something and hope it all works out, this will end up being as big as origami with about 2 hours of battery life. I like things to be seperate, which is why I have an MP3 player, and a DS (and a camera and phone and whatever else they'll probably try and throw in it) I like things to be excellent at the one thing that they do, not just "acceptable" at everything under the sun
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
in the tools section. It's called sledgehammer and is guaranteed to kill all of those devices in one shot.
Timo's Audio Software http://www.esseraudio.com
...dust off all your jokes about how big the Xbox is!
Seriously though, with Xbox and Xbox Live MS has shown that they are capable of doing interesting, cool things with both consoles and gaming generally. I'll be interested to see what they come up with.
Game dev and music blog
Yeah, seriously. Can we (the Slashdot community) officially retire the term 'killer' and replace it with 'competitor'? It is possible for multiple manufacturers and products to exist in a market space simultaneously. Competition is good! We don't need or want new products to kill anything.
I don't think I want an X-shaped console with a glowing green screen. I got enough objects in my pants that glow green in the dark.
I'm not a MS fanboy, but I do have very good experiences with Microsoft over my lifetime. I've had some terrible problems, too, but nothing that has affected me in a bad way. I believe Microsoft's Windows has been a big reason why PCs are so cheap -- a common operating system that was easy to use has helped to bring more people to computers. I think we'd be in the 80s still if it wasn't for Windows 3.0 -- Apple had no chance given their closed hardware.
My experience with MS in handhelds is terrible. I've owned about 30 PDAs in my life (I tend to use them for 3-4 months and then sell them to friends or family or give them away). All my Newtons were my favorite (from the original MessagePad through the 2100). I feel terrible that I sold all my Newtons years ago -- I think I'd still be using the beasts today.
Microsoft doesn't know how to downsize anything. The big complaints about Windows from the geek crowd is more appropriate for Microsoft in the small-PC crowd. I had a Microsoft car radio once -- Worst. Thing. Ever. My current PDA is Microsoft based and it works very well wirelessly -- yet I have to reboot it about 10 times a day to get it to run fast.
I have no faith in Microsoft in terms of an iPod killer. The X-Box is mostly a fluke to me -- a lot of money spent, very little profit made -- which means the item is NOT a success in terms of market viability. For me, the best products are those that make a profit, giving the manufacturer real reason to keep upgrading and supporting it.
If the Microsoft 'iPod' killer is another spend-a-ton-and-earn-none fluke, it won't last. Microsoft needs a happy customer, and a happy customer pays a happy profit. Without that incentive, Microsoft will be fighting battles on too many fronts, and we know what happens to the imperialists that have done that in the past.
For all intents and purposes, the PSP should have killed the DS from a technical viewpoint. Fortunately, ingenuity in the gaming industry can still make up for somewhat lesser tech. Nintendo has rules the handheld market since 1989, and I don't really see that changing anytime soon. Besides, Microsoft, at best, will come up with a Windows-running, $400 handheld with a 3-hour battery lift. I'll pass.
I doubt they will be able to create an iPod killer because that would mean they had to change the behaviour of hundreds of thousands of people.
A behaviour is exceptionally hard to change, especially if it is based on an already well working service.
I don't want a brick that's large enough to play video/games on. I want a music player that's small enough to fit in a pocket and be generally unobtrusive.
Umm.... in Japan even the Gamecube is selling better than the 360.
--- witty signature
So this is to go with Microsofts Linux/OSX/BSD/AIX killer and Microsofts PS3/Revolution Killer and Microsofts Oracle/MySQL/PostgreSQL/PeopleSoft/Dbase Killer?
Sure a lot of killing going on.... supposedly.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3609953966 5548298
...Microsoft bought the rights to Gizmondo, didn't they?
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
And about the only thing the PSP seems to be killing is... the PSP.
If Microsoft wishes to do the same thing as Sony, making a "gaming" handheld that does everything but actually play games, they'll get the same results.
Granted, they may make a better movie player than the PSP (depending on the specifics), but Microsoft is already losing the format wars with Apple over music formats (much like Sony) and if they aim for squeezing the "latest and greatest" in graphics and sound technology into the gaming function, it certainly isn't going to be as small as the iPod (like Sony). And, finally, like Sony, there'll be little more than "portable" (i. e. watered-down) versions of console games (read "Halo Lite").
Monopolies are legal, but they used to be controlled, when the law was actually enforced and "conservative" judges weren't appointed to short-circuit it.
Monopolies are damaging because they can leverage their overwhelming advantage (=money) into new markets, conquering one product segment after another, erecting barriers to entry to new competitors, and most importantly, monopolies can prevent new technologies from dislodging their old tech by using extortion in all sorts of ways (in the classic case, "put Linux in your boxen, in any way, and say good-bye to your Windows discount, hell, good-bye to your Windows boxen).
Microsoft is building "killer" after "killer", using their infinite cash from their Office and Windows monopolies to simply underprice their products in new businesses like game machines and portable media players until their competitors, who don't have monopoly cash, fold. Then, classically, they raise their prices in their new monopoly, then use the cash to move into a new monopoly. This is why we busted the trusts after the Guilded Age. Inevitably, one company will own everything. Microsoft wants a media tax worldwide, wants a piece of every media streamed and stored. Then they'll inevitably move into media creation; hell, that's what they're doing in video games. Vertical lock.
... is that it was made by Microsoft marketing. They know what their problems are, and they essentially admit they haven't a chance in hell of fixing them. That's why they'll never develop an iPod killer, much less an iPod/DS/PSP killer.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
I should be a product consultant.
Make what the mac people are crying for.
The device must be the same, exact form factor as the current gen ipod.
Make it out of aluminum or titanium with a matte or beadblasted finish.
The screen should be the entire front of the device.
It's only user input; the touchscreen and perhaps a single scroll wheel. NO MORE. Think about inertial input in a second release. MAYBE.
Put a video and headphone jack on it.
Put 802.11 on it and stop being a bitch to the media industries.
Make it with open programmable interface and a real OS.
The only user interface and application options should be just what the ipod has - a video player, audio player, and basic little apps like the ipod has.
Let the market fill in the gaps.
Sell millions. When you do, buy me a ferrari, ok thanks?
..don't panic