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To hear Microsoft tell the story, you'd think its recently released Zune MP3 was doing just fine: Sales of the widely-reviled device were "exactly within our expectations," a Microsoft spokesperson said recently. Reality, however, is a bit more cruel: After appearing in the top 10 on Amazon.com's list of best-selling electronics devices for about a week after its debut, the highest-charting Zune model today can only be found if you scroll quite a ways down the list: The black Zune is currently nestled at number 95. The white and brown models, even more embarrassingly, can be found at numbers 866 and 687, respectively. Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research refers to Amazon's sales list as "a pretty good indicator of consumer interest."
So what went wrong? Just about everything, actually. The Zune provides only a small portion of the functionality a consumer gets with an iPod, and it does so with a device is that delivers less batter life and yet costs exactly the same as a comparable iPod. The Zune is incompatible with every single online service on the planet, even those that utilize Microsoft's PlaysForSure technologies. Zune's marketing is abysmal, while Microsoft appears to be going to great lengths to mimic everything about the iPod it can while offering virtually no real benefits over Apple's dominant solutions
Paul Thurrott said:
So what went wrong? Just about everything, actually. The Zune provides only a small portion of the functionality a consumer gets with an iPod
What exactly does that mean? which "functionality" is the Zune missing that consumers get with iPod? Please don't tell me he's talking about Podcasts... The same podcasts that latest research shows only 1% of users actually listen to... Oh, those functionality type of things... Nice find Paul!
He's also comparing a first gen Zune to a, what is it now, 4th gen iPod. Though I still think the iPod is overrated and overpriced, when I get a mp3 player I want just that, a mp3 player. So the new iPods have a few games, oh how nice on that small screen, devices with small screens are one of the things I hate the most.
I'm sure if anything MS can push and get out newer Zunes faster then it takes Apple to, and if you can update the devices like you can with the 360, then who knows what they have planned.
One would think that the brown ones would be flying off the shelves. [+o(]
Dear god what features are "missing"... last i checked bigger screen and more features (fm and wifi) = better ... especially when the 2 competitors are equally priced for gods sake...
If hes talking software thats something that microsoft will improve over time, i mean for gods sake its a version 1 software
do people recall itunes 1.0 or the first ipod? they were pieces of crap... hell the latest itunes was a piece of crap lol... yes the marketplace doesnt have the video store or podcasts enabled but that will come in time... as microsoft said for gods sake version 1 "ITS ABOUT THE MUSIC DAMN IT!"
It's funny how people get upset that video and podcasts are missing when less than 1% of people use either of the 2 lol .
And no it's on its 6th generation of ipods
yes its the 6th generation dont let the 5.5 fool you this is their 6th damn release of the ipod and it still has a crap interface... and is lacking definite hardware features, heres the issue though the zune isnt missing hardware feature, in fact its overbuilt with more processing power and features than it needed at launch because it was built to expand over time with future zune releases and zune marketplace releases.
Also of course the zune isnt storming the consumer masses lol, why you ask? simple, microsoft knew it wouldnt ... ITS A NEW PRODUCT, in a very large marketplace of products, so guess what microsoft knew its expectations, and its meating those expectations, remember they said it will be 4-5 years before they really see a large impact on marketshare shesh stop jumping the gun people
and btw mtg: from what originally was brown was the highest ranked of the 3 for a long while ... then the others took over... but from what i talked to from a few friends, they wouldnt but it online, until they saw it in person then they bought it at walmart or something
The thing with the zune and the brown is online you cant tell if its sh*t brown or a nice khaki color etc... and when you do go to the store to check it out... you mise as well buy it there... thats why its low on amazon, people dont take chances with stuff like that or anything "unknown" online... its kinda like buying clothes online
An interesting footnote for you...
Last night, on my way home from work, I took a completely empty bus. So for several blocks, I talked to the bus driver. I took my Creative Zen Micro Photo out of my pocket to turn it off, and the bus driver asked me what player I had and if I liked it. Then SHE asked me if I had seen the Zune and what I thought of it. Being a Mac owner, she was disapponted that she couldn't really use the device, but I was pretty taken aback. We talked the rest of the ride about the Zune's merits and its weaknesses.
When you compound this experience with my experience visiting BB the week before Thanksgiving, I believe there is significant buzz and interest around the device. People are interested, amazing to see really, in a V1 product like this.