General manager of Microsoft’s Windows digital media division David Fester has suggested that iTunes’ emerging dominance would be bad for consumers, because it would limit them to the iPod.
He told journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas: “Windows is about choice . . . . “
It could be, but it’s not always about the user’s choice.
To no one’s surprise, Dell weighed in with a “me too” comment: “Over time, however, customers will want industry standard choices.”
Hmm, last I looked mp3 was pretty well-established as a cross-platform option, while Microsoft’s WMA seems to be tied to a single platform.
Microsoft and others have declared that choosing to adopt the open standards-based AAC format championed by Apple deprives consumers of “freedom of choice”. By this, the company means consumers are not using its proprietary Windows Media Audio, which it claims is an industry standard.
And to her credit, HP CEO Carly Fiorina remembered who buys all this stuff: customers like us. “The next big thing isn’t the next gizmo or killer app or hot box. Customers want all this to work together and they want a seamless approach.”