Abstract
Features:
- Market Background
- Market Impact
- Wider Considerations
- Zune Outline
- Forecasts: 2006 - 2010
- Pricing Power
Microsoft' s announcement of Zune in July 2006 represents the most significant development since Apple launched the iTunes Music Store in April 2003. This report assesses how Zune will affect the structure and dynamics of the fast-developing digital entertainment market.
The report first explains why Microsoft has been forced to accept that an ecosystem-based approach to the market cannot work and then describes Zune' s role within Microsoft' s wider strategy.
Next, the report analyses the structural changes that will occur within the digital entertainment arena by focussing on the retail end of the industry.
The report identifies three radically different categories of digital entertainment retailer, which include Apple and Microsoft and a broad range of others.
In order to assess how the fortunes of retailers within these three categories will change over time, the report forecasts the value of the global digital music retail market and then divides the resulting revenue between the three retail categories from 2006 to 2010.
The implications are dramatic and the report shows that the majority of entertainment retail in the future will be dominated by a handful of large, branded players. The report contains a clear explanation for the basis of the segmentation, the key trends and an outline description of the winners and losers.
Finally, the report reviews a number of wider considerations which will be important to content owners, device brands and entertainment service providers by including factors such as the shift in pricing power along the value chain.
Table of Contents
BACKGROUND
Market Forces
- The Beginning of the End of the PC Era
- New Digital Platforms
- Why Zune?
Zune Announcement
MARKET CONCENTRATION
Methodology
Definitions of Different Types of Digital Music Retailer
- Category (I) Retailers
- Category (II) Retailers
- Category (II) Retailers
Market Shares: Music Retail
- Marketing Expenditure
- Whole Product Quality
Implications: Specialists
WIDER CONSIDERATIONS
- Other Content and Device Categories
- Pricing Power
