Portable Media Centers Launch

The first Windows Mobile-based Portable Media Centers (PMCs), portable digital media devices with hard drives and small video screens, are part of a broad strategy to meet Apple’s threat to the Microsoft digital media platform. However, it’s not clear whether consumers will pay a premium over Apple’s iPod for the ability to view pictures and video on the go, nor is it clear how the devices can compete with cheaper portable video players or multifunction handheld computers and phones.

One-Upping the iPod

Apple’s digital media platform is gaining traction thanks to the popularity of its iPod portable music player and accompanying software and services. This success threatens Microsoft’s digital media platform, including the Windows Media Format and its associated digital rights management (DRM) technology, which the company hopes will spur consumer PC upgrades and create new sources of revenue from consumer electronics companies and content owners. (For more background on Microsoft’s digital media strategy and the threat from Apple, see “Media Player Update Moves Strategy Forward” in the Oct. 2004 issue of Update.)