Verizon to Kill iTunes? Dream On

VS. 

The WSJ also reports that Verizon is launching its new music service, which is based on Microsoft's platform:

"At a very direct level, we're going to be competing with iPod," said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless.... "Apple hasn't had a credible challenge to their proposition," he said. "We think we begin to change that dynamic a little bit."

Hats off to Mr. Stratton for his ambition and optimism, but I'll be shocked if Verizon so much as dents the iTunes franchise. 

Yes, the world needs a standard, transferable format for (legal) music files.  Yes, it is annoying that iTunes files work mostly on Apple hardware.  Yes, at first blush, it seems that the Apple-Microsoft music war is just a rerun of the Apple-Microsoft PC war of a decade ago--a war in which Apple held the early lead only to get steamrolled into irrelevance. 

But here's one difference: The reason Apple lost the PC war was that the biggest drivers of the PC boom were not consumers but corporations, and once Microsoft cornered the corporate market, the consumer market had to follow.  In the music world, corporations are irrelevant: the war is and always will be about consumers.  Apple's early dominance of the (legal) music market, therefore, will be harder for Microsoft, et al, to dislodge.

The reason I think Verizon is doomed to failure in music is not just that phone companies have demonstrated nothing but failure on the content side since the dawn of Internet time.  It's that Verizon picked the wrong partner.  Barring stupid moves by Apple (always possible), a standard format for (legal) digital music has already been established.  It's called iTunes.

Comments

[Jeannie]

Hey Henry! I was in NYC recently and tried to contact you, but couldn't track you down. What do you think about Sirius - I just got it, and can "download" songs (at no extra charge) and it becomes sort of like an Ipod, albeit a relatively large one. Thoughts? Cheers, Jeannie

[Igor]

Henry, could not agree more.

[Gene]

Henry,

What is your opinion where Wall Street is regarding Apple? It seems to me from various articles I read and general tone I hear on various news channels, particularly financial, that people still underestimate Apple and its growth.

Thanks