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Microsoft's Handheld Codenamed Argo
The Seattle Times reports that details on Microsoft's handheld gaming/music device are finally slipping out. The Argo project looks to be Microsoft's hedge against angry analysts, upset that the next versions of Office and Windows have slipped yet again. From the article: "As reported last week, initially by Bloomberg News, the device is expected to go on sale by Christmas. It has Wi-Fi capability so it can connect wirelessly to home and public networks and other players. Wi-Fi sounds like a big deal if you're comparing the player to the wire-bound iPod. But this is more than just another MP3 player. It will also compete with game players from Sony and Nintendo that have long had Wi-Fi and work as media players, Internet terminals and communication devices. Argo is likely to showcase another Allard project — XNA, a new toolkit that helps game developers create titles for multiple platforms."
A bit off topic, but I fail to see why this article would appear under the Apple section. I suppose one could agrue that because it likely is a product made to go tete-a-tete with an Apple product, one might want it mentioned there. But shouldn't this be under Microsoft's section? Or handhelds?
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Not wishing to sound like a nay-sayer, but what happened to Microsoft's last handheld device, the Origami?
Anyone?
Exactly, not much at all. I'm rather skeptical at this point to be honest. The only hardware that has an MS-badge on that I've found to be any good has normally been developed elsewhere and brought in and rebadged.
I've been waiting for the day when the iPod will have WiFi capabilities that allow it to beam music to an Airport Express module via AirTunes, and then on to the stereo. The iPod then becomes not just the source of the music, but a wireless remote control for it as well. I believe that such things exist - add ons for the iPod Dock, etc. - but I don't think they use WiFi (and so have reduced range or are just line-of-sight), nor can they display the iPod menus to you as you navigate the music collection.
Imagine hosting a party, walking from room to room, shmoozing, with your iPod in your pocket. You want to change the music playing throughout the house, you just pull it out and flick through the menus as you would if you alone were listening to it with headphones. A rare event, perhaps, but it's a gateway to very impressive (and useful) functionality.
And, as the summary stated, using WiFi would free the music player (iPod or otherwise) from transferring music and data files through cables. Of course, it would be a lot faster to transfer using cables (compare the transfer speed of Firewire of USB 2.0 to 802.11b/g). A more advanced functionality would allow you to browse and download from iTMS without a computer entirely.
I don't doubt that Apple has been working on this. Who knows, it might be a feature of the 6G iPod (whenever that comes out). But, since they haven't released it yet, there are obviously still formidable obstacles (engineering and economic) that keep it from primetime.
Personally, I'm surprised that Apple hasn't at least developed and released an add-on module for the iPod that provides all this WiFi capability (Airtunes, wireless synching, etc.) and plugs into the Dock Connector. Probably too much of a niche product for now.
Why on Earth would MS be developing games for the DS if it intended to come out with a competing device?
MechAssualt DS - based on the Xbox games
Diddy Kong Racing DS (a port from the N64, via MS-owned Rare)
I quit!
Considering the amount of time batteries last when using Bluetooth (for data transfers, not the occasional click), or WiFi what the heck is the point of having it 'wireless'?
.Net issues makes it painful to do ad-hoc development for it as a platform, and none of the existing tools that I looked at (at the time, things may have changed) are very good. So, since they can't take advantage of existing hardware, why should I expect they'll do something right on another new platform????
I have an iPod and, except for the anemic battery life, love it. I just don't see the point in adding wireless capabilities to it.
I have a PocketPC, and I at one time wanted to use it to control whatever computer I had which was acting as my music server. To me that makes perfect sense and the connectivity already exists, etc. The problem? Microsoft and their damn OS and
For the next version of their iPods.
...
As we all recall (or perhaps you have forgotten about - it was launched in October 2001 , the first version of the iPod has had its share of problems. The iPod is not at its fifth generation and has lots of features that Microsoft can either dream of at their first incarnation or implement badly.
In addition to that, there will be features that Microsoft will not implement.
- support for Apple? No way
- Calender integration with Mozilla Sunbird? No way
etc.
Plus - they need to cut deals with the record companies; Apple has already done this.
Furthermore, there are currently more than 50 million iPods on the planet. Not to count the millions of other players. So it is a very hard market to get into.
* Wireless would be nice - when it is working correctly, and noone can connect to my iPod/Argo to snoop my data.
* Games? I don't know, this would probably drain the battery life, so not for me...
And, if this is typical Microsoft quality software (and I'm not talking virii here, although this is a possibility), you probably need to restart the thingy on a daily basis (I restarted my iPod twice in one year) and there will be upgrade after upgrade.
Microsoft, you need to convince me
Mark