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- FearNLoathing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 23 — When Samsung, the consumer electronics giant, decided to mount a serious challenge to Apple Computer's iPod music player early last year, it turned to a little-known Silicon Valley software start-up with a cluttered one-room office tucked away here in a building above a mortgage title company.
The result of that partnership is Samsung's newest Z5 portable MP3 player, which will appear on store shelves March 5. The software inside the player was forged at Iventor Inc. by a small team of programmers led by Paul Mercer, 38, a veteran Apple Macintosh software designer.
Samsung's decision to hire Mr. Mercer is significant because Apple, in designing the original iPod four years ago, turned to Pixo Inc., the company Mr. Mercer founded after he left Apple in 1994 to create software for hand-held devices.
Apple used Pixo software to create the music player's simple interface, and Pixo's name appeared in the credits of the original iPod MP3 player. Sun Microsystems acquired Pixo in 2003.
For Mr. Mercer, the Samsung project is the culmination of more than two decades of focus on extending personal computer technologies to the realm of portable devices.
"My whole vision has been to take Macintosh-class technology and to move it into new places," he said during an interview in his office, which was filled with more than a dozen smart phones in various stages of disassembly.
Samsung executives said they had engaged Mr. Mercer and Iventor to design a user interface for the Z5 because they were hoping to offer an ease of use that matched that of the iPod, which has a simple screen and a distinctive touch-sensitive scroll wheel for making selections.
"Paul helped us to design and develop a user interface for the Z5 from the beginning," said Phillip Chung, vice president for the digital audiovisual division at Samsung Electronics.
Samsung's choice of Mr. Mercer also shows how much consumer electronics now rely on the powerful computing capabilities that defined personal computers two decades ago. Samsung is betting that it can win a share of the music market dominated by Apple by using new software that mimics what is found in powerful PC's.
The Z5, shaped like a stick of gum, has a 1.8-inch color screen and a 35-hour battery life, and is priced at $199 to $249 to compete with the iPod Nano, which costs $149 to $249. Early reviews have been positive, and Samsung is hoping that the Z5 will work smoothly with the range of subscription music services that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure digital music standard.
But a significant factor in Apple's success in digital music is the seamless connection between its iTunes Music Store software and the iPod players. The rest of the industry, hampered by the division between hardware, software and online music providers, has not come close to offering consumers a music experience as easy as Apple's.
It is not known whether subscription music services, which permit users to choose among hundreds of thousands of songs but require a continual monthly payment, will win broad consumer approval.
What does set the new Samsung device apart from other digital music players and even from Apple's newest iPod Nano is the fluid quality of its software, which includes transparency effects usually found only in powerful PC's and video game machines. This technology gives a more refined and polished appearance to the Z5 software.
Such design flourish is characteristic of Mr. Mercer's approach, said a number of Silicon Valley software designers who have worked with him both at Apple and elsewhere.
"He is an unusually detail-oriented software engineer," said Steve Capps, a former Apple and Microsoft software engineer, who was one of the designers of the original Macintosh interface and the leader of the Newton project, which created a hand-held computer. "He knows how to architect small pieces of software code."
Alliances between small firms and big electronics makers are becoming increasingly common as companies are forced to bring new devices to market practically every season.
"We're seeing the rise of independent specialists who have a deep understanding of things that big companies don't have the ability to do," said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley consultant who is chairman of Samsung's science board, an advisory group.
Mr. Mercer is the epitome of a specialist. Growing up as a personal computer hobbyist in upstate New York during the early 1980's, he became enamored first with the Apple Lisa and then with the Macintosh.
As a computer science student at Syracuse University he wrote programs for the Macintosh, which attracted Apple's attention when it was recruiting young programmers.
"The programs were my résumé," he said.
At Apple, Mr. Mercer quickly became one of two software engineers responsible for the creation for the System 7 version of the Macintosh Finder — the program that displayed the distinctive desktop visual display that acted as the computer's dashboard.
Then in 1987 and 1988, after Steven Jobs had been ousted from the company by John Sculley, then chief executive, engineers like Mr. Mercer were given wide latitude in exploring new ideas at the company. On his own, Mr. Mercer pursued two projects for hand-held computers, code-named Swatch and Pen Mac.
In the early 1990's, before a meeting of Apple's top executives, he showed off the Macintosh software running on a hand-held computer, long before products like the Newton, Palm Pilot or the General Magic communicator had been introduced.
The technology demonstration was impressive, but Mr. Mercer acknowledged that he was naïve about the reception he would receive for his invention.
Instead of being welcomed with open arms, he received a call from Mr. Sculley noting that Apple had just signed an agreement to work with Sharp Electronics on the Newton technology and that there was no room at the company for competing hand-held computing projects.
Mr. Mercer was asked to join the Newton project, where he worked on the core system software until he left Apple in 1994 and founded Pixo.
Although Pixo grew to more than 100 software developers during the dot-com boom years, it was ultimately sold to Sun because, Mr. Mercer said, it had grown too large to maintain its focus.
"In retrospect you learn that the founder is the guy with the vision, and you have to be very careful not to dilute it," he said.
At Iventor, which he founded in 2000, Mr. Mercer has made no immediate effort to expand the company but instead has concentrated his energies on building a new software platform that can be used in products like the MP3 player.
The Samsung Z5 was done on a tight schedule, and Mr. Mercer said he worked "hacker hours," which were compatible with his Korean partners on the other side of the globe.
Now that the Z5 is about to reach the market, he is thinking about his next technology target. Mr. Mercer said he was still dreaming about a personal device that offered complete access to information and media. - leqin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well I would be impressed if he single handedly created the iPod, but he didn't so I'm not - I'm about as impressed as I am sick of seeing yet another article about some 'thing' being a iPod killer.
- felchdonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Could we please PLEASE stop calling every competitor to a product a "------- killer?"
This could turn out to be a perfectly awesome player, but if success has to depend on domination or nothing, the bar is set too high.
I'd like to see the software in action before I judge the player. I can't find anything on Samsung's site, however. - M1ke323, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Competition is a good thing, espically when the specs are better.
- tryferos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Again with the "IPod rival" or "IPod Killer"....its not just the device that makes the whole package....Its the IPod + ITunes + Extensive Media Library + Clean interface + Pod/Vid Cast subscription support.
Again another competitor fails to get the point.... - Avengelist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1if the software works and looks good, cool. I won't buy, tho - it looks like a Zenith TV from the 70's.
- Astounding, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Can it play unencrypted (i.e. files without Apple FairPlay DRM) AAC files? If not, what use is it, since I've got a considerable AAC music collection already. I need a player that can play OGG, plain (unencrypted) AAC, and MP3 or I'm not interested. WMA is a "whatever, so what" feature for me.
- Braxo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I didn't have to register to see it, in fact, most dig articles where people complain about not being able to view an article, I've always been able too. What gives?
- andrewguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0another day, another "iPod killer"..*sigh*
- FredB7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Looks like they didn't get Jonathan Ive...
- triad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0yeah, but how much storage does it have?
- boohiss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0BugMeNot custom button for Opera:
http://mgroves.com/blog_archive.php?blogID=218 - Kryptonitfusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0=/..."For free access to this article and more, you must be a registered member of NYTimes.com." is there some other way to view this article?
- hellsyeah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Oh man I bet that guy helped design the origami interface too! !11
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The problem with these "iPod killers" is the fact they're about 2 years too late. iTunes has a huge software/content advantage and customers realize that.
- Grandfinale1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The real strange thing about this is that I'm not a member and yet I still got to see the article.
Now I can't get to the article either. - Grandfinale1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Damn it.
It was a good read. - Jolene, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0One of many Bug Me Not log accounts.
User name: zipperhead99
Password: youdontcare - br8k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The Z5 isn't even competition to the iPdo that thang iz fuuugly yo!!!
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i would say that this player is the best one yet to compete with ipod. high quality materials, great design, and good ease of use. PLUS ITS GOT TRANSPARENCY EFFECTS!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The players that would have taken out the ipod only had a few months on the market for some reason, and now they're totally unavailable: Sony NWHD5 and Arcos Gmini XS202.
- juboodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the Z5 is already for sale
- jbond, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Is the firmware open source? No, I thought not. Is it PlaysForSure? Yes, so fuggedaboutit!
- dootisterhans, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm surprised he didn't have to sign some kind of non-compete contract when working for Apple.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0maybe someday, there will ben an mp3 player called the "Killer." then we can see headlines that read; Killer Killer-killer.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Portuguese / Brazilian: http://www.htk.com.br/noticia.php?noticia=149
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Probably not ipod killer but decent competitor. Samsung is a larger company than Sony and growing faster - they know what they're doing.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0looks sweet in these pics
http://us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/samsung-ypz5-mp3-player-nano-killer-146021.php - AttroPheed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3More vacuous ***** on the frontpage just because the title has 'ipod' in it.
Now one of the more sensitive Apple pussies needs to rate my comment down so I don't make the lot of you cry and wet your beds tonight.
Anyway, +lame. - gotamd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I'm definitely not an iPod fan, but that thing looks hideous. I hope the software that they're talking about can make up for some of the horrible looking physical design of the player itself.
- Meowmix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This is an article about an Apple /competitor/.
Specifically, the creator of said iPod competitor.
How does that make it *****? Sounds like someone is rating something before he reads it... - njbraun, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1No AAC?
no digg! - Prez, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Those of you saying it is ugly must be high!
It looks exactlly like an ipod except it's silver and has a square navigation button instead of round. - Zodzilla, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I don't understand why people refuse to Digg for the contents of the article itself and refuse a Digg for a specific feature of the technology itself. The article isn't "OMG WTF!!1!! Look at how great this MP3 player is!" the article is interesting because it tells the story of an ex-designer switching to a new manufacturer. Much like how I hate that any article, no matter how mundane, that talks about how awesome the Xbox 360 or the iPod is somehow gets dugg by at least a few people, I hate that people write comments like "No AAC? no digg!".
The article isn't about the features of the music player, whether the music player's any good, or whether it's a contender for the iPod. Digg's shouldn't be given on the product, they should be given on the quality of the article submitted.
Well, that's the end of my rant. - shiftless, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Oh noes a site that has content but requires registration! I better complain about registration by registering at digg.com to complain about it!
- br8k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Even if the Z5 has way better features than the iPod the fecking design is sooooo fecking fuglier than my aunt Matilda no thank you Samsuck try again.
- duke_nate, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"More vacuous ***** on the frontpage just because the title has 'ipod' in it.
Now one of the more sensitive Apple pussies needs to rate my comment down so I don't make the lot of you cry and wet your beds tonight.
Anyway, +lame."
I'll second that. - bantam, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0software is only as good as the hardware it is on.. i mean look at that thing....
- elfhat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0It's ugly, boxy things are so 80's. It looks like one of those hand held tape recorders from the 80's with a screen on it.
- Lumiras, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0the hardware is just as ugly as any of the "iPod Killers" on the market. Hardware engineers need to learn it's about iPod's simplicity in design that makes it great: one wheel, one button, and a headphone jack.
- _skin_, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Ugly
- Meshyf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Yeap it is ugly :| That sucks
- MindTrigger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0
I mean really, will we have to watch regular video letterboxed on that turd? - MindTrigger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0
Garbage. What's with the "skinny screen" aspect ratio? lol - peterjhill, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0U G L Y, it ain't got now alibi... it's ugly, it's ugly, it's so damn ugly... it won't fly
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