Microsoft Mobile DevCon invitation
Posted by Daniel Fleshbourne on 26 January 2004 - 11:23 · 2 comments & 391 views
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Full name: Daniel Fleshbourne
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Full name: Daniel Fleshbourne
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I wanted to take a moment and say thank you for your valuable efforts to help test SP2 of the .NET Compact Framework. Early feedback from customers like you is critical to the quality of the products that Microsoft produces.
My name is Kevin Lisota, and I am the manager of this year’s Microsoft Mobile DevCon (MDC). If you are regularly doing development for the .NET Compact Framework, Pocket PC or Smartphone, then MDC is a developer conference designed just for you. This year, we are hosting the conference in San Francisco from March 23-27, and like last year we have Bill Gates delivering our keynote address. We have over 80 sessions targeted at a wide variety of Microsoft mobile development technologies. In addition, we will host smaller versions of MDC in Amsterdam, Seoul, Beijing, Australia, and a location to be decided in South Asia. We are in the process of finalizing details for our international MDC events.
Cue said one hurdle Apple has run into is the age-old practice of staggered release cycles. Marketing and distribution timetables often prevent music labels from a pan-European launch of an artist. A German music lover may have to wait weeks to buy what his friends in the UK are already enjoying, yet shortly after a track hits the radio airwaves a listener has already downloaded it and is swapping it on a file-sharing network.
"One of the things we are working with the European labels on is to get them to understand how the business works in the online space, and having them change some of their business practices," Cue said.
While the industry has made big strides in the past year to make music available for paid downloads, the red tape is still a major gripe of the online vendors. In Europe, the issue is more complicated than the United States as scores of national rights bodies, publishers and collection agencies have yet to agree on standard licensing fees. The morass, both labels and online vendors agree, will make it tough for new Internet music stores to stay in business and the industry expects dozens of new entrants into the market this year -- from Amazon to German ISP T-Online.
"Until somebody gets to 50 million, 100 million, 150 million downloads per month, which by the way is not impossible, we are all going to lose money," said John Rose, executive vice president of EMI Music Group in the U.S.