Microsoft has denied rumors that it had teamed up with several other companies to challenge Apple's dominance in the Japanese portable music player market. Last week reports circulated that the software giant was collaborating with eight other companies including Toshiba, Victor, NTT, and others to develop a portable audio/video player for the Japanese market. "The announcement that came out of Japan this week was simply about the Japanese launch of Windows Media Player 11," a Microsoft representative said, according to PC Magazine. "Due to translation issues the announcement was misconstrued to sound like Microsoft was developing a rival to the iPod; that's just not the case."

The Japanese press release reportedly states that Microsoft announced availability for its Windows Media Player 11 software, and that the companies listed are partners of Microsoft that have agreed to support Windows Digital Rights management 10 for portable devices.

"The companies listed in the Japanese release are device partners," a Microsoft representative said. "For example, in the U.S. one of our device partners is iRiver. We've partnered closely with them to ensure that their Clix [media player] device runs WMP 11 technology."

The release lists iRiver japan, NTT DoCoMo, Creative Media, Toshiba, and Victor JVC as device partners, while service partners consist of The Language Channel, OCN Music Store, and Napster Japan.