Mapping The Entertainment Ecosystems of Apple, Microsoft, Google & Amazon

This is still an area where Apple is winning and won that gets more important every day. The rest will catch up eventually, but it would be nice to see more close competition in this area.

From macstories- "The choice of what phone or tablet to buy is one that often involves many considerations, chief amongst those is the physical device and the operating system that it runs. But I think there is a third fundamental consideration that is growing in importance: what services and entertainment ecosystems you’ll be able to access. You need only look back to the recent criticism of iOS 6, in which Apple replaced Google Maps with their own Maps app. Summing it up generally, Apple’s Maps app is sub-par to what it was replacing and that mattered to people – enough that Tim Cook felt the need to apologise for the frustration the switch caused.

Today I want to focus specifically on the entertainment ecosystems of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. I’m referring to the various digital content stores that are run by Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon – specifically their Music, Movies, TV Shows, eBooks and App stores..."

Comments

[Bug Blatter]

The only thing I care about are the apps; for everything else there are better places to get it (e.g. Napster, Spotify, Netflix, LoveFilm, Amazon).

The fact I can get content from so many places (including different app stores) is a major plus.

Does iTunes still limit iOS devices to only its own DRMd material or can you buy (well, lease) DRMd stuff from elsewhere now?