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After dismissing a round of rumors just 10 days ago, Microsoft has announced plans to release a new digital music player named Zune in time for the holiday shopping season. Somehow, I don't think Apple is too concerned. In this age of 24-hour blogging, it's difficult for Apple to keep a secret. Try as it may, one of the rumor sites almost always beats it to the punch, whether it be a simple speed bump or a full-fledged release of a new product.
But at least Steve Jobs tries.
With Microsoft, on the other hand, it seems that Bill Gates & Co. go to great lengths to leak their products, only to deny their existence and then publicly announce them months  and sometimes years  in advance.
A few weeks ago, a report surfaced about Argo, an iPod killer being developed by Microsoft, which was to include a widescreen display and wireless access for downloading music on the go. It was quickly dismissed by the company as "speculation" and Microsoft said it "had nothing to announce at this time."
That was on July 11.
Last Friday, 10 days after it dismissed the rumor, Chris Stephenson, general manager of marketing for Microsoft, announced Zune, "a family of (digital music and entertainment) hardware and software products, the first of which will be available this year."
So now, after a round of rumor reports drummed up expectations among the people waiting for Microsoft to enter the digital music market, the company has ramped anticipation up another notch or two with a premature announcement and another annoying Web teaser.
For all we know, it could be five months before Zune is released. And with Microsoft’s track record of late, it may very well be even longer.
After all these years, you would think that Bill Gates would have taken a page from Steve's playbook and at least attempted to keep a product under wraps. After all, at least half of Apple's mystique is the element of surprise.
And after Origami and Vista, it seems that a little discreetness might be just what the doctor ordered.
But I suppose it doesn't really matter. Apple managed to sell more than 8 million iPods this past quarter and retain its 75 percent market share without releasing anything new, so it's hard to believe that it can be outdone.
Especially when Microsoft has given its rivals a jump start on its "killer" feature.
For what it's worth, it seems that Zune is built more to jockey with the other 25 percent  Creative, Sony, iRiver, et al  while Apple continues to gobble up the vast majority of the market. Apple's innovation brought us the iPod and kicked off a revolution, and the same ingenuity will beat back the one competitor that could have brought it to its knees.
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