“Microsoft Corp. expects wireless song and photo sharing to be the feature that helps it challenge the dominant iPod in the market for portable music players, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday,” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports, “In a phone interview with Reuters on Monday, Ballmer said he sees wireless technology, allowing users to beam photos and songs to one another, compensating for Apple’s early-mover advantage, because the iPod does not offer that feature yet. ‘You could say, ‘yeah we’re starting out umpty-ump millions players behind’ or you could say ‘hey look, there is a whole new paradigm that is going to happen in this business and we’re jumping in at the beginning,” Ballmer said. ‘Who knows when Apple will jump in? It’s a good company. I’m sure it won’t take (Apple) forever,’ he added.”
“The Zune represents a major strategic shift in Microsoft’s challenge to Apple in the digital music player market,” Reuters reports. “The company failed to find a hit when it tried to replicate its Windows PC model by focusing on music software with the Windows Media player and digital rights management, while leaving the device development to hardware manufacturers. ‘In a sense, we have certainly embraced, with the Zune, the business model of the market leader,’ Ballmer said.”
Full article here.
For some reason, we’ve never noticed a groundswell of users demanding that they be able to share a DRM-laden song that self-destructs after 3 plays over a 30-foot Wi-Fi connection that you have to initiate by walking over the the would-be sharer and asking them to beam you a song. Good luck finding another Zune user, by the way. We used to have a Palm. It could “share” data wirelessly with others. We used it once to see if it worked. It did. We never bothered with it again. We wouldn’t have even done it once if the data we beamed was set to evaporate after three measly views. Just because Microsoft has to conjured up some feature that would allow them to differentiate their brown squirter from the iPod, doesn’t mean the feature is useful or desirable. Zune’s Wi-Fi “sharing” certainly isn’t “a whole new paradigm,” it’s more a tool for marketing distraction than anything else.
The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin visited CNN’s “Amercian Morning” show earlier today to visit with Miles O’Brien and Soledad O’Brien to discuss to Microsoft’s Zune:
Related articles:
CNN ridicules Microsoft’s Zune while gushing over Apple’s new iPod shuffle – November 14, 2006
Engadget: Microsoft’s Zune software: ‘It sucks’ – November 13, 2006
Early Microsoft Zune customer greeted with Zune ‘Installation Error’ – November 13, 2006
Zuned: What’s the ‘deal’ with Microsoft Points? – November 12, 2006
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Apple has no need to worry about Microsoft’s cumbersome, chunkier Zune – November 11, 2006
BusinessWeek: ‘By this time next year, Microsoft’s Zune will be considered a dismal failure’ – November 10, 2006
USA Today’s Baig: Microsoft Zune is no Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Forbes: Microsoft’s Zune stinks; like ‘Microsoft Bob,’ only more embarrassing – November 09, 2006
NY Times’ Pogue: Zune should come in green to match Microsoft’s iPod envy – November 09, 2006
Mossberg: MS Zune has ‘too many compromises, missing features’ vs. ‘thin, sleek, elegant’ Apple iPod – November 09, 2006
Microsoft to pay Universal for every Zune sold – November 09, 2006
Analysts: Microsoft Zune may end up being a flop – November 08, 2006
Are 58% of iPod owners really thinking of a Zune switch? – November 08, 2006
Survey: 58% of iPod owners planning another MP3 player purchase will consider Microsoft’s Zune – November 01, 2006
Zune is from Microsoft, but Microsoft doesn’t want anybody to know about it – November 07, 2006
Microsoft Zune to be US-only, no firm plans to launch anywhere else globally – November 03, 2006
Five Microsoft Zune TV commercials – November 02, 2006
JupiterResearch: Apple’s iPod will dominate for foreseeable future; Microsoft’s Zune insignificant – October 25, 2006
Ellen DeGeneres Show gives away Microsoft Zunes, studio audience goes berserk – October 23, 2006
More Microsoft Zune myths explored – October 20, 2006
Five more Microsoft Zune myths – October 18, 2006
Microsoft Zune intensifies chaos in Apple iPod+iTunes also-ran market – October 16, 2006
Newsweek Q&A: Apple CEO Steve Jobs discusses iPod’s impact, Microsoft’s Zune, and more – October 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Ballmer: Zune device not money loser, wishes Apple’s 30GB iPod was $299 instead of $249 – October 11, 2006
Microsoft’s consumer electronics track record: long string of failures – October 11, 2006
MP3.com founder: ‘Zune will be an expensive failure for Microsoft because consumers aren’t stupid’ – October 06, 2006
Microsoft fails to secure key Zune domains – October 04, 2006
Microsoft rigs Zune with tricky pricing and proprietary money schemes – October 03, 2006
Why Microsoft’s Zune won’t kill Apple’s iPod – October 03, 2006
10 Apple iPod vs. Microsoft Zune myths – October 02, 2006
Analyst: Zune could lead to ‘civil war’ between Microsoft and Windows Media partners – September 29, 2006
Thurrott on Microsoft’s Zune: ‘The makings of a disaster, what the heck are these people thinking?’ – September 29, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune’s as good as dead on arrival – September 28, 2006
Microsoft sets 30GB Zune price at $249.99 – September 28, 2006
How Microsoft’s Zune can kill Apple’s iPod – September 21, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune insanity – September 21, 2006
The Microsoft Zune 1.0 dud – September 20, 2006
Microsoft’s underwhelming Zune a ‘viral DRM’ device – September 18, 2006
SanDisk teams with RealNetworks against new common foe: Microsoft Zune – September 18, 2006
Creative does Apple’s dirty work by immediately attacking Microsoft’s Zune – September 17, 2006
Motley Fool’s Jayson: Microsoft’s ‘just plain ugly’ Zune a meager offering, not an iPod killer – September 15, 2006
What’s in a name? ‘Zune’ a French-Canadian euphemism for penis or vagina – September 15, 2006
Crave at CNET: ‘Microsoft Zune, all the excitement that brown can bring’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft’s Zune underwhelms – September 15, 2006
Enderle: Microsoft Zune ‘a design mistake’ – September 15, 2006
Microsoft hypocrisy exposed with Zune: What ever happened to ‘choice?’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune with fake scroll wheel ‘hardly an Apple iPod killer’ – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft Zune won’t spoil Apple’s biggest iPod Christmas ever – September 14, 2006
Microsoft unveils Zune 30GB player, Zune Marketplace; declines to disclose prices – September 14, 2006
Analyst: Microsoft’s Zune an ‘underwhelming’ repackaged Toshiba Gigabeat; no threat to Apple iPod – August 30, 2006
Microsoft confirms brick-like Zune to be made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft Zune is chunky brick made by Toshiba – August 25, 2006
Microsoft to sell single Zune model this fall, rumors of Wi-Fi capability were greatly exaggerated – August 10, 2006
Microsoft to spend hundreds of millions, several years on Zune trying to catch Apple iPod+iTunes – July 27, 2006
Zune: Apple cannot lose. Microsoft cannot win. – July 26, 2006
Have they actually field-tested this? Or have they just done a marketing survey?
——
Rent a Starbucks for a day, and have users actually implement this ‘feature’? I’m betting NO.
It’s all about the USER. stupid!
—–
Eventually, something llke this may work. If it does it will be Apple – they know about ease-of-use and elegant design. H$? Notsomuch…
Wow…
powerful article:…. kinda scary. Microsoft seaks and destroys
http://www.macobserver.com/columns/hiddendimensions/2006/11/13.1.shtml
Screw the poorly made iPod, get a ZUNE! The rest of the world will, watch.
NOTE the THUMBS DOWN in the Zune software screenshot.
Zune Tang wrote:
“I’m gonna need like 3 Zunes because of all of the photos and music I’m gonna be squirting around. Welcome to the Social. Thank you, Microsoft!”
Never under estimate the potential Microsoft has of selling sh*t to uninformed stockholm syndromed lemmings like Zune Tang. Just look what they did with Windoze. Idiots. *Whack* Ouch! May I have another? *Whack* Ouch! May I have another? …and so on, and so on.
That picture of made spell coffee all over the place !!
I really don´t think wearin a PMP is a social thing at all. Quite the contrary. It´s a private sphere we all need to have th epossibilty to escape to in a world that´s already crowded with information.
MS is just thinkin ; “Hey, myspace and shit is huge, and it´s social, let+s make a social mp3 player”
… and what´s with that commercial with the “hip” youngsters at a concert wearin a Zune ?!?!?
mdn word : better, I don´t think so !
hey Mike k. — please get your own handle for this site. I was here first. Many thanks for your co-operation.
sincerely
mike k.
/these problems would of course be alleviated if MDN would grow up and get a login system
Microsoft can always coast along with “just good enough” products as they have for decades. Their strength is not in innovation, quality or end user usability or friendliness. It doesn’t matter that the Zune will never be as good as an iPod.
Microsoft’s forte is in back-end business dealings to undermine competition. Watch how they’ll work with the studios and labels. This is where Apple needs to be on their toes. As a consumer, I am impressed how Apple has looked out for me in a way that Microsoft never will. Hopefully Apple can keep two entities who never cared about the end user at bay.
“Zune’s Wi-Fi will help Microsoft challenge Apple’s iPod+iTunes”
Right, like a toupee would help cover Balmer’s ugly bald head.
Zune Tang.. your subtle satire is clearly wasted here.
I don’t think they ‘get it’.
-c
MW: ‘once’ (upon a time, I could control myself)
I wonder if you can “beam” a virus from one Zune to another, then infect a PC with it… hmmm… I wonder…
We could start a pool as to how long if will take a hacker to start this social trend.
Don’t be so smug. I’m sure M$ did market test to identify this feature. They did start out far behind Mac in 84 also.
I bet someone’s already done it.
Of course, no hacker would EVER try to write a virus for a device with such a small market share, right? So I bet they’re safe.
-c
MW: ‘over’ (60 million people *could* be wrong… and monkeys *could* fly out of my nostrils)
Oh, I get it! Zune Tang needs three Zunes because the chances of finding another one within squirting distance are so infinitesimal.
At least one of the Mike K.’s gets it too — especially the part about being a proud owner of a Gateway running XP. Cool. Welcome to the Social.
So that’s Ballmer and Mike K. who get it. Too bad the rest of you can’t figure it out.
Oh, and for those who think MS is gonna stick it out no matter what, why are they releasing it in the US only at first? It’s just as likely they’ll give up on the whole idea if it doesn’t take off (and without a nano competitor, that’s likely).
Imagine meeting Ballmer at a party or something.
Imagine hanging out with him.
Boy, I just can’t fathom how much fun that would be.
Now imagine him saying to you…
“Hey there, sweetcakes, you like music? Well, my company just invented THIS.. ” {pulls out Zune} {thank god} ‘You like that, sugar?” {sweats}
So this sweaty monkey-boy knows what I want? He knows what’s hip? What all the kids are into?
uh huh. I’m real sure he does.
-c
MW: ‘care’ (I don’t care what you say, Jonathan Ive is a sexy, sexy man)
MS needs to come up with flash players to compete with the ipod.
Try and make a Nano copy with wifi. Not gonna happen. shuffle copy?
MS needs to get into the flash area but it can’t do it with the wifi feature.
AND the wifi feature is their bread and butter to the Zune.
MS will do what other players have not. Ads on TV. Saw quite a few over the weekend. I’ve only seen Apple and MS on the tele. MS will push this thing for years to come and Ballmer will not pull the plug on it anytime soon. Zune is here to stay.
I have nothing to say except that the MDN word is: society.
I’m going to go to my room now and weep in silence.
Thank you.
where is Sputnik when we need him?
“Don’t be so smug. I’m sure M$ did market test to identify this feature. They did start out far behind Mac in 84 also.”
This would be meaningful if MS could build market share based on sales to business.
I’m sure being able to judge other Zune users by their playlists will be an interesting thing to do. However, I don’t know if anyone is going to buy it to do this. Sharing photos? Since those don’t self destruct, maybe. However, this would only really be useful if you are sharing a full-size file and that could be a storage hog. The song thing, though, seems useless.
The commercials are really stupid, too. I saw one that has a bunch of DJ types in their studio, spinning songs and…listening to their Zunes through headphone? What? Let’s see. You have access to speakers, so everyone can hear a song without headphones or sharing. What to do? Put on headphones, walk over to the person, get them to squirt you, then listen to it on headphones. By all means, do not let everyone hear it (that might be a copyright violation, because it was de facto circumvention of the DRM)! I suppose, like the commercial they have at a concert, it is meant to meant to juxtapose the two activities and relate their common social aspect. Instead, it comes off as listening to your portable device and, instead of actually sharing a social experience, everyone is standing around listening to their own device. Of course, maybe that is the new paradigm for socializing.
ballmer = 13th richest man in the world
ballmer = proof that money and brains don’t go together
Only a Baboon would use a Zune
FANTASTIC BALLMER PHOTO
Walmart by me has a big Zune display with a “coming date” sign. There are dummy Zunes in the display case. A lot of people are going to buy these things and be real sad about the performance they receive.