I can’t say that I’m surprised to have come accross this Reuters article indicating that Universal Music Group are indeed openly considering demanding a kickback from Apple for iPod sales.
Universal Music Group Chief Executive Doug Morris said on Tuesday he may try to fashion an iPod royalty fee with Apple Computer Inc. in the next round of negotiations in early 2007.
“It would be a nice idea. We have a negotiation coming up not too far. I don’t see why we wouldn’t do that… but maybe not in the same way,” he told the Reuters Media Summit, when asked if Universal would negotiate a royalty fee for the iPod that would be similar to Microsoft’s Zune.
It seems that one part of Microsoft’s strategic game play with the Zune is coming to fruition. It is going to be very interesting to see how Apple will respond.
If my hypothesis about Microsoft’s deliberate “mistakes” in their Zune strategy have the desired effect on Apple we will see significant growth in consumer awareness and concern about DRM (particularly among non-tech geeks) and increased pressure from record companies for variable pricing of songs in the iTunes store.
Technorati Tags: Zune, Competitive Intelligence.
