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Target Apple

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by Kevin Maney
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Sep 15 2008 8:45am EDT

Target: Apple

Kevin Maney says: It looks like Apple has won the position of target-in-chief for media and technology companies -- as highlighted by news of the moment.


Today we've got five major movie studios and six major tech companies -- including Microsoft and Cisco -- banding together to form the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE. (Yes, it is perhaps the worst name for an alliance in recent memory.) DECE is an attempt to counter Apple's closed system, which makes most songs and video downloaded through iTunes playable only on other Apple products. Apple made that system to so easy to use, it came to dominate digital entertainment. But DECE wants to create a standard that would let any company offer DECE downloads that would then be playable on any DECE product made by any other company.

We also have the advent today of MySpace Music -- which has the support of four of the five major record labels. Why? Because they want to dent Apple's hold on music downloads. MySpace Music will try a different model, centered on streaming music paid for by surrounding ads.

Meanwhile, tomorrow Microsoft's new Zune models will be available -- yet another direct shot at Apple. Zune has only 2% of the music player market and doesn't pose any immediate threat to the iPod, but the new products show that Microsoft doesn't plan to give up the chase.

Ah, ya know, I remember, a decade ago, when Microsoft was in every company's cross hairs and Apple was basically irrelevant. The world has turned upside down.
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