Microsoft's 2003 iPod plan

Microsoft was once contemplating a counter-strategy for the iPod years before releasing the Zune, according to evidence from an on-going anti-trust trial in Iowa. PC World reports that Microsoft was disappointed with the Windows-based players available in 2003, prompting internal discussion over their interaction with Windows Media Player. "I have to tell you my experience with our software and this device Creative's Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra is really terrible," wrote Windows Vista chief Jim Allchin, sending an e-mail to Media Player executive Amir Majidmehr. "Apple is just so far ahead. How can we get the [player makers] to create something that is competitive with the iPod? I looked at the Dell system and that is not close either."

The Allchin and Majidmehr e-mails surface as just a few of the 3,186 exhibits made public last week in the Comes v. Microsoft trial. One of the key issues of the case is the company's alleged failure to properly disclose APIs to competitors, a term of a 2002 settlement reached in a dispute with the federal government. It was suggested that Microsoft APIs favoured Internet Explorer, thereby making it difficult for rival web browsers to compete.

Majidmehr replied by saying Microsoft was planning incentives, in the form of money, technical support and a direct interface. Failing that, the strategy would be either to build a unique Microsoft player, or to speak with Apple and "open up a dialog [sic] for support of the iPod" within Media Player. By late 2003, Apple had already released a Windows version of iTunes.

by MacNN Staff