Microsoft is releasing their media player called a "Zune". What is a zune? This is probably the most serious challenge to iPod/iTunes because MS has a lot of money and they are very competitive.
I think what will eventually happen though, regardless of how Zune goes, is that there will be a standard file format(s) for drm(digital rights management)-enabled media. The driving force will be the same as it has been in the past for physical media.
Just ask Sony.
Apple has good products, but will they still succeed without exclusive bundling of hardware and software? The symbiosis between iTunes/iPod is similar to that between MacOS and the Mac. With the release of
boot camp, Apple has started competing against other hardware vendors as a Windows platform. Will Apple ever license MacOS to run on non-Apple hardware? If MacOS is really better than Windows, wouldn't it make more money being sold outright rather than as sort of a "bonus" or part of the package for buying a Mac machine?
