Microsoft's Plan to Be King of All Media

An anonymous reader writes "Saul Hansell from the New York Times spoke with Microsoft's J. Allard, formerly of the Xbox games division and now in charge of their push on Apple's captive audience with the Zune. Allard lays out Microsoft's media battle plan, highlighting their longterm goals for expanding beyond games and software. 'This service will at some point add more options for video and mobile phones, Mr. Allard said, without offering details. Actually, Microsoft has been quite successful selling video downloads and online movie rentals through the Xbox Live service already. This seems a bit too much like the initial plan for MSN. This new network would be the switchboard through which all entertainment content and communication flows. Pretty much everything else in the technology world now is revolving around open systems where the Internet, and some simple standards, are in the middle.'"

Comments

Divx/ xvid support

[Merls the Sneaky]

They better hurry up and pull their finger out of their asses and get Divx/Xvid support for the 360 then.

Duh! Xbox.

[Datamonstar]

This is what I've been telling people all along: that's the reason for the Xbox in the first place. I was so scared for gaming when I first saw that thing because I knew that even though Microsoft's first foray into console gaming would be a complete and utter failure (I was wrong, it wasn't a failure unless you consider the substantial financial loses) their subsequent attempts would be much better because Microsoft had enough money to throw at whatever problem arose the first time. I also make it my point to reason with people that once the consoles market has been thoroughly cornered, and all gaming devices are inextricably mated to the Internet and PC peripherals there will be very little difference between them and the one that serves up everything all at once will be king. Microsoft is doing this, albeit slowly. I give Playstation and Nintendo consoles 20 years more, maximum. Soon we'll have HD movies, and gaming and internet all wrapped up in one device (more or less) and probably under one subscription service that will be hosted by Microsoft. It's not even console wars anymore, it's content wars and there is no way that Sony and especially Nintendo will be able to compete in a long battle because Microsoft has already gotten so deeply involved in the surrounding factors, namely the internet and subscription-based services.

Re:Duh! Xbox.

[rtb61]

As data delivery technology matures it becomes minor upgrades. Why would any content producer or publisher want to pay a M$ or google tax on all their content, amounting to billions of dollars every year.

Bascialy cheap hardware and open standards will mean it will be far simpler and cheaper for producers or publishers to deliver direct. Ballmer has always had delusions of charging an M$ tax on all internet transactions, media, financial, software even browsing, but it is just that a delusion.

The consumer products companies will win over the long run, as it won't cost much extra to incorporate the additional hardware, in big screen TVs or high resolution virtual reality headsets. Combine those two items with an open source operating system, upon which you can run multiple content delivery systems, and unless M$ starts building a big content library they have nowhere to go.

Re:Ballmermon Restless in Tower Redmondore

[mindwanderer]

I think that this Ballmeron should worry less about Smoogle and the ring and concentrate more on fortifying his tower before its overrun by the Penguin hosts of the north.

Microsoft, out of touch with reality?

[troll -1]

Allard sounds like Ballmer. Microsoft is still clinging the old media establishment ideology of 'content providers' who only get paid because you've DRMed their stuff.

They still don't get the concept of an Internet.

Anyone who's been following trends since Napster was shut down back in 2001 will understand we're undergoing a natural progression from centralized, controlled delivery systems to those where content is everywhere all at once.

An obvious revenue model for this is one where advertising is embedded in content freely distributed over the Internet. After all, that's what worked for free broadcast TV and radio. It's the easiest and least restrictive method of raising revenue to pay for content. I doubt folks will be flocking to buy xboxes and zunes AND giving money to Microsoft so they can watch their favorite shows. Nothing to see here, move on.

"Fail fast" == burn the users

[vrmlguy]

A related article based on the same interview turned up this gem:

When I spoke to Mr. Allard, he was up front about Microsoft's slow start. But he defended the approach of "fail fast" and learn. And in typical Microsoft fashion, he talked about the first generations of Zune as early moves in a long-term strategy. Yeah, the older Zune's can have their firmware upgraded, but try asking the people and companies who invested in 'plays for sure' what *they* think about fail-fast strategies. Fail-fast is just another word for moving R&D out of your budget and onto the shoulders of your customers. The bad news for you is, eventually they will wise up to their actual costs and migrate to new suppliers.