Last up in today's all-iTMS episode, we play Big Freaky Bald Space Guy With White Eyes and a Cape and ask "What If... Apple and Sony had teamed up on digital music?" Because according to an IDG News Service article pointed out by faithful viewer oskar, if not for Sony CEO Nobuyuki Idei's rumored dislike for Steve Jobs, we might well have witnessed just that. See, reportedly Steve-o approached Idei "when the two met at the Sony Open golf tournament in Hawaii this January" (yes, it's a rough life, being CEO of a big tech company) and offered to "bring the Sony brand" into the iTMS, which "would have allowed for joint operation of the service," whatever that means.

See, apparently Steve was understandably nervous about Microsoft's impending entry into the downloadable music market, and he figured that if Apple and Sony teamed up, that'd be arguably the two biggest names in consumer high-tech throwing their weight behind the same service-- which would "maintain a competitive advantage" over whatever Microsoft finally barfed up. But quoth Idei, "No wei Hosei"-- and a few months later Sony instead launched its own competing service called Sony Connect. And gee, guess what? Connect made about as big a splash in the market as From Justin To Kelly, and critics called it "an embarrassment to the company," for botching pretty much every aspect of a music download service except for its pricing, which wasn't any lower than the iTMS's anyway.

Since Connect uses Sony's proprietary ATRAC format and therefore only works on Sony's own players, presumably the company was banking on its Walkman brand name to sell compatible players, which would in turn drive music sales at Connect. But because the Network Walkman NW-HD1 is expensive and won't even play MP3 files, you don't see them in the wild very often; heck, even Sony's own president doesn't know which end of the Network Walkman is the top. So while the iPod and iTunes continue to enjoy explosive growth, Idei's choice to go it alone has saddled Sony with a flop of a service tied to a flop of a device.

So how would things have turned out if Sony and Apple has teamed up? Well, considering the timing, we expect Jobs pitched a deal similar to the one he hammered out with Hewlett-Packard the same month: iTunes preloaded on all VAIOs, and either FairPlay AAC licensed to work on Sony's Network Walkmen or-- dare we say it?-- the advent of the "Apple iPod + Sony." And actually, why not? The iPod is at least as slick as any device Sony has cranked out in donkey's years, and it's got the sort of mind share that the Walkman brand hasn't enjoyed in decades. Now imagine Apple, HP, and Sony all pushing iTunes, and all selling iPods. That's the sort of scenario that'd have Microsoft reaching for a change of pants.

Of course, the reality is far less compelling, which is that Sony, possibly the world's top consumer electronics brand, turned down Apple's offer-- so instead of co-dominating the market, it's barely even a blip on the radar. What a waste, hmmm? Well, maybe another couple months of negligible Connect activity and lackluster Network Walkman sales will send Idei back to the bargaining table. Let's just hope he heads to Cupertino, and not Redmond...