The world’s second largest computer maker has announced it will launch an Internet music store and yet-another digital music player. Yes, HP has joined the race; their products are supposed to be available first quarter 2004.
JupiterMedia projects the market for online music to grow from $80 million in sales in 2003 to $3.2 billion in 2008. No small change, that, which (at least partially) explains why so many firms are jumping into the fray. This is classic behavior, and, true to type, Apple was a pioneer. But I don’t think that the iPod will go the way of Newton (think Palm).
Can there be more than one online store for music? Well, there certainly is more than one for books, even though Amazon is the gorilla.
Where are the record companies? Why didn’t they pioneer something like this with their traditional bricks-and-mortar partners like Tower Records as one point-of-sale? Oh, that’s right — their role here is preserve the status quo (supression of radical potential – Winston).
Links: Financial Times (3 Dec); Reuters (2 Dec); MacObserver (2 Dec); WiredPen (21 Oct); WiredPen (18 Oct); WiredPen (17 Oct)
