Microsoft denies Japanese collaboration on an Apple iPod killer

Microsoft denies Japanese collaboration on an Apple iPod killer

Recent news reports claimed that software giants Microsoft is working with several Japanese companies to develop a potential Apple iPod killer.

However, now the company has denied these market rumors as Microsoft claims that the media misinterpreted their recent announcements.

A Microsoft representative said in a statement: “The announcement that came out of Japan this week was simply about the Japanese launch of Windows Media Player 11. Due to translation issues the announcement was misconstrued to sound like Microsoft was developing a rival to the iPod; that’s just not the case.”

He added: “The companies listed in the Japanese release are device partners. For example, in the U.S. one of our device partners is iRiver. We’ve partnered closely with them to ensure that their Clix [media player] device runs WMP 11 technology.”

The original Microsoft release mentioned both device partners and service partners. These included some big names like iRiver Japan, NTT DoCoMo, CreativeMedia, Toshiba, and Victor JVC.