Napster says it’s Microsoft’s fault Napster has been crushed by Apple
Napster chief executive Chris Gorog took Microsoft to task Tuesday, telling Reuters that Microsoft and its hardware partners were to blame for his company’s inability to make headway against market leading iTunes. Recent surveys show Apple’s music software has more than 80 percent of the market, with that number continuing to rise.Gorog called Microsoft’s execution “less than brilliant” and said that technical glitches with the company’s digital rights management technology was hurting Napster’s business.
Napster relies on Microsoft’s digital music ecosystem and its PlaysForSure technology, which has continued to sputter in the face of strong competition from Apple with the iPod and iTunes.
There are a lot of reasons Apple has dominated this space, including the impressive design of the iPod and the device’s seamless interaction with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store, but a large part of Napster’s failure to compete comes from its failure to convince customers that renting music is preferable to owning it. Napster itself admits that the subscription model is a paradigm shift. People want to own stuff, and Apple is the only digital music vendor dedicated to allowing people to own stuff.
