Ron Schenone

Why The Dell Tunes Are Coming

Posted by on Aug 16, 2008 | 2 Comments

Dell vs Apple. Sounds kind of strange when you say it. But this might just be the case since it appears that Dell will use Zing [software that is] to do a Dell Tunes venture. But why would Dell want to do Tunes in the first place? Dell sees a possible venture which will include an assortment of companies to sell, distribute, a variety of music that will be compatible with a multitude of devices.  Sounds good. But will it work?

Anytime you go out and get a bunch of companies together, no matter how good the idea starts out, just because of the forceful personalities involved there could be issues. But who knows, if the money flows everything might work out just fine. I read one statement it which it eluded to the fact that Dell wants to share this with any company that is not named after a fruit. Yipes! I wonder they are talking about?

Anyway, the new Dell Tune stuff should be making a debut sometime in September. At least that is the rumor.

Over at BusinessWeek they state:

MULTIPLE SOURCES

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.

Apple looks nearly invincible in the market, but this in itself may be its most serious vulnerability. Today, record labels grumble about Apple’s tight grip on their business, and many consumers are frustrated because the iPod works only with iTunes, at a time when there are many ways to get digital content. 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.”

This could be the first real challenge that Apple is going to face. Dell seems like they are dead serious about this venture having some 120 engineers working on the project.

Comments welcome.

Source

  • leftystrat

    “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.”

    I already HAVE the most choice in how I buy and consume music, movies, and podcasts. I don’t use any services and don’t require anyone’s permission to play or transfer a media file.

    This entire concept has been conjured up like a straw man. It’s like subscribing to a service to keep your information private. If only *I* have my info, it’s private.

    Mind you, Dell wants to own the world. They’re making inroads. Aside from their crack-inspired website, I don’t have any complaints about them.

  • Lancelot

    If they don’t learn to react to the market place quicker they’ll be just throwing their money away. They badly need to work on their marketing skills, especially since the days of just putting a product somewhere on your website & leaving it just doesn’t work anymore. They’ve got to be aggressive, flexible & have methods in place to get products out quickly. Dell’s failure to react quick enough & have a netbook to sell is inexcusable. Dell’s failure to get a product out to cover this segment of the market has cost them Million$ & is just one example of why they need to fine tune what they have before attempting to take on iTunes..