Skip Navigation

Furthermore

Still on the Scoble/iPod topic… what’s wrong with this paragraph?

As to marketing, this is another Microsoft weakness. We probably aren’t going to buy billboard ads telling you how cool the Dell or Panasonic devices are. Why? Because we're not making hundreds of dollars per device off of them (look at Apple’s profits per device and you’ll realize you're paying a LOT to buy into Apple’s system). Look at the devices themselves. They don’t have any Microsoft branding on them. We don’t spend money making sure that rap stars use our devices in their videos. We don’t buy back–page ads in the New Yorker. We don’t buy billboards in San Francisco advertising Windows Media. Guess who pays for those marketing devices? You do.

You’re damn right the consumer pays for those marketing devices, and they’ll pay whether they buy an Apple iPod or a Creative Nomad Zen. It’s Creative’s job to market their product, just as it’s Apple’s job to market theirs, and if the iPod supported WMA you’d still be paying for the marketing.

No, Microsoft doesn’t take out billboard space to advertise WMA. Why would they? The shepherd doesn’t pay for K–Mart’s winter catalog, no matter how much those fleecy cardigans are going to profit him.