Bill Inc. has followed Steve’s Jobs prediction:

…The problem is, the PC model doesn’t work in the consumer electronics industry, where you’ve got all these companies and some does one thing and another does another thing. It just doesn’t work. What’s going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of making MP3 players. This year. X-player, or whatever…

Microsoft gave us the Zune, the name did remind me of the villan Zule from the mega hit movie Ghostbusters (1984). Okay, folks this is clearly a rip-off of Apple’s iPod. It’s available in white, black and brown. Microsoft has ripped-off the basic shape (audio input top right, power/transfer bottom middle etc.) features (movie playback, photos etc.) and available colors (white and black). But they go even further! Apple’s mail application says “Hello from Curpertino, CA”. On the back of the device appears the Zune logo and in a mock-up of the labelling on its rear, sports the words “Hello from Seattle…” How original! At WWDC ‘05 they took Apple’s marketing joke quite seriously: “Redmond start your photocopiers!”.