Word from our friends in the United Kingdom – (1) an interview with Hugh Griffiths, Microsoft UK – as Microsoft launches it’s new MSN Mobile Music. You really have to appreciate the commentary that the (2) Slashdot folks have going on – it’s hilarious 🙂
I’ve posted entries before decrying ‘Digital Rights Management’ (DRM) technology (when will it die?) and really honestly believe that it poisons a consumer base. Future MBAs would do well to heed this advice and avoid DRM in favour of positive customer experiences.
This new service is made even worse by some very standard technological issues which should have been solved (like transferring titles to a new handset) before they even bothered to launch the service. It appears as if Microsoft (UK) haven’t bothered to see the damage done to iTunes and other services by treating the customer with such disdain.
Having worked with Microsoft in the past, it actually astounds me that such a service could be launched without some degree of oversight on the planned business model. I’m not sure who their intended consumer base is, but I can assure you it takes a lot for a service or product offering to make it into production.
This is egg on the face for Microsoft UK, It’s one thing to overlook solving a business/technical problem which no one else has been able to solve. It’s simply embarrassing to not solve problems which have already been solved by your competition. Way to enter the scene late, overpriced and riddled with holes in the technical and business models!
[ (1) http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/245859/qa-microsoft-defends-return-to-drm.html ]
[ (2) http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/01/22/1914201 ]
