As this and the previous post suggest, Apple seems to be today's focus. Tom Foremski writing for the SiliconValleyWatcher blog perceptively says that Microsoft and Sony are moving to block Apple's ambitions, and DRM is one of the keys. Microsoft and Sony do not want Apple's FairPlay DRM fully established as the defacto music and video DRM standard. Snippets:
Apple’s next moves in the consumer digital space are strikingly obvious—build out its iPod family and add high-end models that can display video and offer wireless connectivity of various types.
In the same way that iTunes, Apple’s online music store, provided a large selection of paid-for music content, Apple now has the opportunity, and formidable task, of persuading movie and TV studios to allow Apple to sell their digital content through online stores.
If Steve Jobs succeeds, Apple will own the keys to the digital entertainment kingdom; because the company that has the dominant digital rights management (DRM) technology becomes an extremely important gatekeeper.
The DRM is pivotal, because this is what protects content, sets permissions, tracks usage, and is the payment mechanism for digital content of all kinds.
You can see the blocking moves in the market.
Last week, Sony said it would create an “iTunes for Hollywood.” And Microsoft launched a service to download and play TV shows on portable devices.
Bill Gates has been gunning for that sweet spot in DRM for years. But Hollywood won’t let it happen; it won’t let a company that has been found guilty of monopolistic business activities own the DRM. It won’t happen.
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