Consumers have been asking it.  The media keeps poking the same question.  Even Steve Jobs himself told Microsoft to do it.  Now a 19 year-old Seattle high school student asked it…to Bill Gates himself.  “Is Microsoft going to develop a hand-held, you know, MP3 player, to combat iPod?” asked Schyler Mishra.  Gates reply was a humble one, down right complimenting, when he responded, “Yeah, Apple has done a fantastic job with the iPod.”

Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman, told the conference room of students that Microsoft is working with it’s partners to get something "better" out. But with all these current partners only able to get about 20 percent of the current market share, how is it going to do that? "Between us and our partners, you can expect to see some pretty hot products coming out over the next couple of years," is Gates’ non-answer answer. He basically told the class that it’ll have to wait for about two years before this hot product comes to be. But you know what? Apple’s lead will be long established by then and Microsoft will have an even harder time cracking that market then it has with the video game one.

Bill Gates should put his ear closer to the railroad tracks, because Mishra summed it all up just right when he said, ""I would think that they would want to dominate one of the biggest and hottest things right now, which is MP3 players," adding, "because iPod has dominated everyone."

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