Via: engadget.com

As part of efforts to get a bigger chunk of the MP3 player market, Samsung has hired the services of Paul Mercer. Yes, the same software designer that helped shape Apple`s iPod.

The news is seen as a testament to how Samsung believes that consumer electronics now rely on computing capacity that defined PCs years ago. With the selection of Mercer, Samsung is banking that its YP-Z5 music player will get a bigger share of the market by stocking it with software that copies applications found in powerful desktops.

The Z5 portable MP3 player, shaped like a stick of gum, is expected to be launched on March 5 and is said to be priced at US $199 to US $249. It features a 1.8-inch color screen and boasts of a 35-hour battery life. It is said to be intended as the direct competitor of the iPod Nano.

-------------

We`re always up for a little bit of engineer poaching between device makers, like when Apple nabbed some VAIO guys from Sony for the MacBook Pro. Ah, good times. This time Apple is tasting a bit of their own medicine, since Samsung has scored Paul Mercer to design the YP-Z5. Mr. Mercer, a former Apple employee who helped design System 7 and worked on the Newton project, left Apple in 1994 and designed the original iPod interface as an independent contractor. Samsung tapped him for the YP-Z5, which has transparency effects and other interface niceties to give the nano a run for its money. Now we`ll just have to wait and see if Mr. Mercer`s work has managed to eclipse his former brilliance -- that screen won`t be much help.

---------------------------

iPod Designer Builds Rival MP3 Player for Samsung

iPod designers builds rival MP3 player for SamsungBy Armando Duke

(AXcess News) Houston, TX - Samsung Electronics decided last year to build a rival to Apple Computer Co (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPod, so it turned to Paul Mercer, an ex-Apple Macintosh software designer and a team of developers from Iventor, Inc., who wrote some of the software used in Apple`s iPod.

As a result of that effort, Samsung`s new Z5 portable MP3 player will appear on store shelves March 5.

Mercer ran Pixo, Inc., a company he founded after leaving Apple in 1994 to write software code for hand-held devices. So when Samsung turned to Mercer for help it was the right move, considering Pixo helped design Apple`s iPod.

Pixo`s software provided the iPod with a simple music interface that was used by Apple. To Mercer`s credit, Pixo`s name even appeared in the credits of the original iPod MP3 player.

Mercer sold Pixo to Sun Microsystems in 2003.

Samsung said it hired Mercer and Iventor to create a similar music interface for the Z5 MP3 player to Apple`s iPod to develop a simple screen and a distinctive touch-sensitive scroll wheel for making selections.

Phillip Chung, vice president for the digital audiovisual division at Samsung Electronics was quoted as saying, ``Paul helped us to design and develop a user interface for the Z5 from the beginning.``

Samsung is betting on a slice of Apple`s pie for its MP3 music player by mimicking the design look and features of iPod while offering powerful computing capabilities.

The thin-shaped Samsung Z5 has a 1.8-inch color screen, a 35-hour battery life and is priced at $199 to $249 to compete with the iPod Nano, which costs $149 to $249.

Samsung built the Z5 to be compatible with the range of subscription music services that support the Microsoft PlaysForSure digital music standard.

Where Apple has an edge over Samsung is in its seamless interface with Apple`s iTunes music store. For Samsung`s Z5 to work as well it has to easily function across a range of subscription music services that rival to Apple is hoping will succeed.

What is unknown is how well consumers will take to Samsung`s Z5 MP3 player due to the monthly subscriber fees users pay for various online music subscription services.

Samsung believes its rich and powerful software designed by Mercer and Interface will win over consumers as Apple iPod`s MP3 player does not offer as powerful a design.

-------------

Iventor is a software design company based in Palo Alto, California. We specialize in user interface design for high volume mobile devices. Our mission is to bring the best practices of the PC industry to embedded software development. Iventor has developed a high level runtime environment for deployment of advanced, dynamic user interfaces.

Iventor was founded in 2000 by Paul Mercer. Paul has 20 years of experience in the PC and embedded device industries.

http://www.iventor.com/about.htm