J Allard - Microsofts Plan to be King of All Media
Following up the previous posting is a more detailed NY Times piece about J Allard and his thoughts on the future of Microsoft’s media plans. This particular posting is interesting because it points to where Microsoft is going with their online offerings. It’s pretty obvious that both the Xbox Live service and the Zune Marketplace share the same infrastructure. The key will be delivering the right content to the right user using the appropriate device. As for the Zune, J Allard wants to build a “connected MP3 player” - “connecting artist and audience together”. What I also found interesting was this statement:
Yes, we’ll do video. Yes, we’ll do games. But the heart and soul of that brand is music.
BTW - has anyone noticed that you can now buy and download ESPN World Series of Poker videos on Xbox Live Marketplace? Now if I can simply buy it and use it on my Zune too - THAT would be awesome.