The evidence strongly suggests that competition in media players continues to be strong, and ever increasing. Increase in media players The number of third-party media players that consumers use has increased, as has the number of media players that major PC manufacturers preinstall: | • | In Europe, the average number of media players preinstalled by PC manufacturers in addition to Windows Media Player has increased from 1.4 in 2004 to 3.2 in 2006. | | • | In the U.S., the average number of preinstalled media players in addition to Windows Media Player increased from 3.2 in 2004 to 3.7 in 2006. | | • | The average number of media players used by consumers has increased from 2.1 in 2004 to 2.6 in 2006. (Excluding Macromedia Flash 8) |
Content in other formats Content providers and software developers continued to encode and write for multiple formats five years after the integration of multimedia functionality provided by Windows Media Player: | • | In 2004, 93 percent of content providers and 79 percent of software developers told the Commission they used multiple formats. | | • | Content providers and software developers continue to write for multiple formats, including new formats that have emerged since 2004. |
Apple iTunes Perhaps the best known example of a media format that emerged after Microsoft integrated multimedia functionality into Windows is Apple’s iTune service: | • | Apple reported the one-billionth song download from its service in early 2006. | | • | According to Apple, more than 80 percent of songs purchased online today are purchased through its iTunes service. | | • | All songs downloaded from the iTunes service are available only in Apple’s proprietary format. | | • | The iTunes media format can only be listened to on Apple’s proprietary digital media player, the iPod, or the iTunes media player, which can be downloaded to a PC running Windows XP as a third-party media player. |
Macromedia Flash 8 Macromedia Flash 8 has emerged as a potent force in the streaming media marketplace since it introduced streaming video. In fact, in the past two years, Flash 8 has become one of the most widely used streaming media players in the marketplace: | • | Since the latest version was released in September 2005, Flash 8 is now installed on more than half of all European and U.S. computers connected to the Internet. | | • | Macromedia projected that Flash would be on 80 percent of PCs in the second half of 2006. (Macromedia press release, October 2005) | | • | An increasing number of Web sites are streaming video today using the Flash 8 player. They include Google, MTV, Sky Sports, ITV, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Major League Baseball, ABCNews.com, The New York Times and Le Monde. | | • | Disney-ABC Television Group announced it will start streaming complete episodes of some of its current popular television series online using Flash 8 exclusively beginning in May 2006. This content will not be offered in Windows media format. | | • | Google Video supports the Flash format as well as Google’s own proprietary media player, but not the Windows media format. |
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