Apple Store“Microsoft Corp. is considering new distribution models for its Zune media device, including offering it at next-to-no cost alongside subscription plans,” John Letzing reports for MarketWatch.

MacDailyNews Take: Please see our headline. Oh, by the way, “free with subscription” does not equal “free.” You usually end up paying more over time and the day you decide to stop paying for the subscription, you own nothing.

Letzing continues, “Microsoft’s Zune marketing director, Jason Reindorp, first publicly aired the idea of offering the Zune like a subsidized cellphone in an interview with PC World magazine. A Microsoft spokesman confirmed that ‘Microsoft is exploring lots of ideas, and this is just one of them.’ The Zune was first released to consumers late last year. As a potential competitor to Apple Inc.’s popular iPod, the Zune is a high profile endeavor for Microsoft.”

MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft’s Zune is a joke. It’s amazing Microsoft continues to get coverage for this failure and that certain media outlets continue treat it as “news” that Microsoft is “considering” this and/or that for Zune. Perhaps they’re covering it for their own amusement. If so, we’re all for it; we like a running joke as much as anyone and this one certainly has potential, since nobody outside of governments can finance a fiasco for longer than Microsoft. SanDisk, the distant number two to Apple’s iPod juggernaut, must get sick every time they see another Zune article.

Letzing continues, “The spokesman said that Microsoft first considered the cellphone-like distribution plan after seeing interest in its Zune Pass subscription service, which offers monthly paid access to songs on the Zune Marketplace, a competitor to Apple’s iTunes store. Though he declined to say how many subscribers currently use Zune Pass, the spokesman said subscriptions rose 65% during January.”

MacDailyNews Take: As we often point out, statistics can be used to infer reality or fantasy. Add 7 Zune subscribers in January to 11 in December and, presto, 65%! (Rounded up to the nearest 5%, of course.)

Letzing continues, “The spokesman said a subsidized Zune is only one of a series of ‘wild ideas’ being considered by the company’s entertainment and devices division to help the Zune better compete directly with Apple’s iPhone, a combination cellphone and iPod that is expected to be released in June.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Joe Architect" for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Take: To describe Apple’s iPhone as merely “a combination cellphone and iPod” is only slightly less ridiculous than pretending that some future Zune can compete directly with it. Microsoft can’t even get Windows Vista to run well on a modern laptop, so how are they going to pack their bloated, derivative morass of spaghetti code into a Zune to “directly compete” with Apple’s iPhone (which is actually a handheld Mac OS X-based computer with a multi-touch UI)?

Related articles:
Microsoft: DRM-free music in Zune’s future – April 05, 2007
Microsoft paints Zune pink in desperate bid to increase anemic sales – March 22, 2007
Buh-bye: Senior Zune exec exits Microsoft – January 31, 2007
Last quarter: Microsoft lost $289 million on Zune, CE devices – January 26, 2007
NPD: Apple iPod held 72% share of PMP market in December; Microsoft Zune had 2.8% share – January 21, 2007
RealMoney’s Comeau predicts: ‘Microsoft will kill the first Zune media player by midyear’ – December 16, 2006
Zune: Welcome to the social isolation – December 11, 2006
Thurrott reviews Microsoft Zune: ‘a joke, a travesty, I can’t imagine what they were thinking’ – November 28, 2006
Ihnatko: Microsoft Zune experience about as pleasant as having an airbag deploy in your face – November 24, 2006
TheStreet.com: It’s not looking good for Microsoft’s Zune; bad press may taint brand for years – November 24, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune selling like snotcakes – November 15, 2006
Engadget: Microsoft’s Zune software: ‘It sucks’ – November 13, 2006
BusinessWeek: ‘By this time next year, Microsoft’s Zune will be considered a dismal failure’ – November 10, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft’s Zune stinks; like ‘Microsoft Bob,’ only more embarrassing – November 09, 2006
Thurrott on Microsoft’s Zune: ‘The makings of a disaster, what the heck are these people thinking?’ – September 29, 2006

Apple iPhone wannabes don’t even come close to what Apple has built – April 05, 2007
Why iPhone could be more than worth Apple’s price – April 03, 2007
Wired: Apple iPhone has wireless industry scrambling – March 30, 2007
Report: AT&T Wireless says Apple iPhone release date June 11 – March 30, 2007
Apple iPhone steals CTIA Wireless 2007 show; FCC chairman wouldn’t give it back – March 27, 2007
AT&T has received 1 million Apple iPhone inquiries so far – March 27, 2007
Apple’s iPhone ‘preverberations’ rock cell phone industry – March 26, 2007
Sony CEO Stringer talks Apple iPhone: ‘I wouldn’t bet against Steve Jobs’ – March 17, 2007
The Beeb tries to equate ‘smartphones’ with Apple’s iPhone – March 16, 2007
Cellphone users set their sights on Apple’s iPhone; look to get out of existing contracts – March 15, 2007
Getting ready for Apple iPhone: How to get out of your 2-year cellphone contract – March 13, 2007
Wired’s Mortensen: Apple is under-selling iPhone with their 10 million figure – March 13, 2007
Apple’s marketing machine does it again: iPhone generates $400 million in free publicity – March 10, 2007
Analyst: Apple’s iPhone has Palm ‘shaking in their sandals’ – March 09, 2007
Which company is most at risk from Apple’s looming iPhone onslaught? – March 04, 2007
Morgan Stanley reiterates Apple ‘buy’ – says market is underestimating iPhone demand – March 01, 2007
Apple’s 10 million iPhone sales target for 2008 would surpass most other smart phone sales – March 01, 2007
Apple COO Tim Cook: iPhone is a revolutionary product; you get what you pay for – February 28, 2007
Apple COO Tim Cook: iPhone on track for June launch – February 27, 2007
Goldman Sachs: 4 reasons to be bullish on Apple’s iPhone – February 26, 2007
Apple airs iPhone teaser ad during Oscars – February 25, 2007
Apple preps 3G iPhone model for Europe – February 25, 2007
The once-mighty Palm Inc. doomed to decline and failure – thanks to Apple’s iPhone – February 23, 2007
Palm CEO can’t stop talking about Apple iPhone – February 19, 2007
How Steve Jobs played hardball in iPhone deal with AT&T (Cingular) – February 17, 2007
Digit takes a closer look at Apple’s iPhone – February 14, 2007
Microsoft caught off-guard, beaten badly by Apple’s iPhone innovations – February 13, 2007
Apple’s soon-to-be iPhone rivals sound just like iPod rivals circa 2001 – February 01, 2007
How Verizon blew the Apple iPhone deal – January 29, 2007
O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile battle for exclusive rights to Apple iPhone in UK – January 26, 2007
Rogers to offer Apple iPhone exclusively in Canada – January 25, 2007
Research in Motion downgraded due to Apple iPhone competition – January 23, 2007
Ihnatko: Hands-on with Apple’s iPhone (which runs Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard) – January 18, 2007
Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone – January 17, 2007
RealMoney: Apple just blew up the whole damn mobile-phone supply chain with its new iPhone – January 11, 2007
eWeek: Apple iPhone fallout: ‘They must be crying in Nokia-ville and other telephony towns today’ – January 10, 2007
Jefferies downgrades Motorola on fears of market share loss to Apple iPhone – January 10, 2007
The massive FUD campaign against Apple’s iPhone ramps up – January 10, 2007
Time: ‘iPhone could crush cell phone market pitilessly beneath the weight of its own superiority’ – January 09, 2007
Analyst: Apple iPhone should be given its own category – ‘brilliantphone’ – January 09, 2007
Apple debuts iPhone: touchscreen mobile phone + widescreen iPod + Internet communicator – January 09, 2007