In the three years following a ‘wrongful termination’ suit against former employer, Apple Inc., Tim Bucher has chosen to side with Dell to combat the iTunes supremacy.
According to Bucher’s lawsuit, on November 10, 2004, Steve Jobs had told the former engineering executive that “People think you are sometimes manic-depressive…. I think I’m going to have to ask you to leave the company.” Bucher had been left flabbergasted after being promoted just a few months prior, noting that the accusations of mental illness had been “completely false.” Apple had settled the case the following year and denied to comment about the issue.
Since then, Bucher has decided to take aim against his former employer, devising a zealous plan at Dell to take on Apple’s iTunes empire strong hold over the digital digital entertainment industry. Rather than creating a knock-off MP3 player or iTunes clone, Bucher and his 120 person team are attempting to create an alliance among Apple competitors, from cell phone makers to record labels.
“The idea, which Dell plans to unveil as early as September, is to create a broad standard, more open than Apple’s, that will give people greater choice in how they buy and consume music, movies, and podcasts. Dell will give other companies the software to help establish the standard and will make its money selling PCs and other hardware. “Customers want access to content from a broad variety of sources—how, when, and where they choose,” says CEO Michael Dell.”
While Apple would appear to be invincible, this factor in and of itself may be their achilles heel. Record labels gripe about Apple’s dominance over their business, and consumers have been put off by the fact that iPods and iPhones are only compatible with iTunes.
“Imagine if you could download a song from Amazon.com and send it to the mobile phone of a friend or the car stereo of someone who has satellite radio. By creating one über-market, Dell and its partners hope to persuade consumers to try new devices and services. “Apple wants to lock you in,” says Robert Enderle, a consultant who has been briefed by Dell. “Dell wants to lock you in to choice.”
A key factor that will help drive the success of this ambitious plan is Dell’s 2007 acquisition of Zing, the company that Bucher had founded following his departure from Apple. “The software handles behind-the-scenes translations so that content can be “zinged” between computers and other compatible devices. Dell hopes to announce the Zing software as a feature on small, cheap laptops expected in September and to have the software installed on all of its consumer PCs by the end of the year.” Additionally, Bucher confirms that new devices will be coming shortly, yet will not go into detail.
While the project sounds interesting, Dell has not exactly had the best digital entertainment track record. After introducing a portable music player in 2003, 2 years after the iPod, sluggish sales lead the company to scrap the device. Bucher insists that his undertaking is in no way personal, just business. Even after working with Jobs from NeXT through Apple until 2004, Bucher claims, “I guarantee it’s not about revenge.”
[MacNN via BusinessWeek]
