“Microsoft’s attack on the Apple iPod began with a whimper Tuesday as Zune players made a lackluster debut in US stores,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
AFP reports, “Two boxed Zune players sat ignored on the top shelf of a Plexiglas showcase packed with iPod accessories in a Virgin Megastore near Union Square in San Francisco’s popular shopping district. ‘I didn’t even know they were there until a customer pointed them out,’ said sales clerk Jake Brooks. ‘I’m sure we have more in a closet in the back somewhere.'”
“By mid-afternoon the store had sold one Zune player and one other person had inquired about them,” AFP reports. “The scene was bleaker at a CompUSA store a block away, where the manager said that an oversight by Microsoft sales people had resulted in the store not getting Zunes for display. No apparent harm was done though, said the manager, because no shoppers came asking about Zunes.”
“Apple has sold nearly 70 million iPods since introducing them in 2001 and the devices command about 75 percent of the global MP3 player market,” AFP reports. “Apple’s online iTunes store sells digital music, podcasts, video, and films [with music library of over 3.5 million songs]. Microsoft’s online Zune Marketplace sells only music for the devices [with a library of about 2 million songs].”
Full article here.
Reuters reports, “Donna Murphy is no fan of the ubiquitous iPod music player so on Tuesday she became one of the first to buy Microsoft’s new rival Zune device. ‘I just needed a new MP3 player to play my music and watch videos,’ said Murphy, who bought a Zune at Best Buy’s midtown Manhattan store. ‘I’m not an Apple fan, not an iPod fan. So I wanted to try something different.'”
“But initial shopper interest suggested the Zune media player—heavily promoted in gadget reviews and television talk shows—was in for a slow building process,” Reuters reports. “An employee at the Best Buy store said two shoppers entered the place as it opened and purchased Zune players, and that about 20 were sold within the first three hours.”
“At the Virgin Megastore in New York’s Times Square two circular displays sporting Zune players with earphones attached were unmanned that morning, save for store employees restocking supplies,” Reuters reports.
Full article here.
Related articles:
Microsoft’s Zune incompatible with Windows Vista – November 14, 2006
Dvorak: ‘If anything is doomed to failure, it’s Microsoft’s Zune’ – November 14, 2006
Ballmer: Zune’s Wi-Fi will help Microsoft challenge Apple’s iPod+iTunes – November 14, 2006
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
Maybe EVERYONE else loves to read about ZUNE, but for goodness sake, this is a Macintosh news site. AS for me, I will skip MDN from now on. There are plenty of alternatives where ZUNE is not every other story!
me,
I think you’re the dumb one.
Gone, I’m afraid that you’ve been misinformed about what MDN is about. Of course you won’t be reading this since you’re Gone.
Last quarter Microsoft’s entertainment and device division LOST $96 Million. Zune should add to its investment.
That’s right Buster — me an my Zune loving dorks are squirting each other night and day, only this honeymoon is gonna last forever! Zune ROCKS! The ones on the short pier are the iPod/iTunes users ’cause their time is just about over! You are in no position to squirt each other, and when you can finally squirt, it will be too late.
HOW ABOUT SOME MORE CAPS, BUSTER!!! YOU LIKE ‘EM BOLD TOO? YEAH, THAT’S RIGHT — BOLD CAPS!!!
History repeats itself: time and time again Microsoft lights the way out of Apple’s darkness. Have fun using your antiquated money on your has-been iPod. As for me, it’s glorious points from here on out…
Welcome to the Social.
It’s kind of interesting, these people that throw a hissy fit about there being another bad Zune review cited and discussed here on MDN. They first of all seem not to understand that no one is making them actually click on the Zune story. It’s a matter of free will. If it doesn’t interest you, move on then.
And they also seem not to understand why laughing at that shit of a company known as Microsoft is something many Mac users enjoy doing when the opportunity presents itself. Yes, yes, you don’t have to point out…YET AGAIN…that this is a Mac news site. We all know that. But all that means is that any subject which is likely going to be of interest to a large percentage of Mac users is likely to be discussed here. And seeing MS embarass itself IS indeed of interest to many Mac users. The worlds is a worse place than it had to be because of that wretched filthy company.
Essentially, these “I’m not comin’ ’round here no more” type of people want the world to revolve around THEIR wishes, and to hell with everyone else. Killjoys!
@MixedBag:
Reading alittle further down your link…
“”We’ve been moving a lot of them,” said Rod Saboya, a supervisor at Best Buy at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue. “We had people lined up outside this morning one hour before we opened.”
As of 3 p.m. yesterday, Saboya said his store had sold 60 Zunes, or nearly half of the store’s inventory.”
60!!!?
Apple stores sold 500 to 1500 iPods a day in my area last Christmas. 60!!!!!? This is a joke, right?
Ad suggestion,
I’m pretty certain that ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ was B.B. King’s song (although it was covered by many others, including Aretha Franklin). Now an appropriate Marvin Gaye song for someone using Microsoft products would be ‘What’s Goin’ On’, although you could also make a case for ‘Trouble Man’.
Zune Tang….its a scary thought that people like you walk the streets alongside normal people. Doesn’t your guardian notice when you leave go of the communal rope that the other kids of your daycare have to hold on to?
Buster, I apologize. The gratuitous use of caps was wrong, but to put them in boldface was disgusting. Sometimes I go a little too far. See, this is the passion Microsoft talks about when they say “Your potential. Our passion.” It gets the best of me.
I just get so flustered with Apple’s chicanery in the MP3 player marketplace. Microsoft’s legendary ease-of-use, generous DRM implementation, flawless interoperability with PCs, robustness of the online store, continued customer-focused innovation and millions of happy customers is being overlooked because of the false hype with these iPod things. Apple can’t claim any of the aforementioned traits, so they bully the market and consumer. Too bad, really.
Hopefully we can put this behind us and maybe squirt each other some time.
Welcome to the Social.
Know Zune Software Issues straight from the Jackasses mouth.
Zunetang is … is … oh, frack, I forgot his tag. but it’s him. It’s gotta be. Same kind of semi-Soviet retorical gibberish as … whoever it is I’m trying to remember. God it’s been so long since… He used spout about how .Net was going to take over everything and I’d laugh myself silly. Who the …
SPUTNIK! YEAH! SPUTNIK!
That’s who Zunetang is.Yep. Gotta be Sputnik. Welcome to the Social!
Why is there Zune software and Windows Media player 11? Why try and maintain 2 systems to use your music? Is this direct from the department of redundancy department? Are they so afraid of the bad taste that people have in their mouths from MS software that they have to try and fool people that Zune music software isn’t just windows media player with a skin? Has anyone else noticed this unnecessary double of the same software?
The truly silly thing is that these people who hate the ipod are buying a product that is trying to copy it. I guess it really is just a fashion statement.
I love the brain dead simplicity of my ipod experience. But for those who want something truly different, it would seem that there are all kinds of competitors trying to offer something different, rather than copy.
You’ve got companies struggling to stay alive by adding truly different ideas and features, providing real alternatives. But they don’t have billions to burn. So instead it comes down to a referendum on the ipod, whether you like rubberized or shiny. It’s sad.
Once again, I love my ipod and its ecosystem. But there are legitimate criticisms that make it not right for everyone. Zune copies almost every one of those criticized features.
The wireless, the fm, it’s all cover. The appeal of the Zune is simply that it’s not an ipod… see what an individual I am now.
Sad but typical.
I’m becoming more and more convinced that this Zune thing is only going to help Apple and its ipod. I believe it will fracture the already fragile non-ipod market with good old fashion confusion for the consumer.
Dion – “I made a trip to the local CompUSA store last night so that I could bad-mouth Zune……”
You might want to investigate getting a girlfriend, its a little bit more fun than these shenanigans.
or if you’re truly hardcore, get yourself a Best Buy uniform.
20 in the first 3 hours!!?? Oh no! Look out Apple! The iPod is doomed – doomed I tell you!
Z
I went to WWDC this year…San Francisco isnt exactly a model place to sell a Zune. Its packed with Fags and White Earbuds…New York, Dallas and Atlanta would be better benchmarks…
Anyone who knows anyone who lives in New York knows that the NY Post is not to be taken as serious journalism. The rag is not much higher in the food chain than the National Enquirer.
By the way, why are there so many who don’t “get” that Zune Tang’s comments are saturated satire??
If you are going to try and make a point you shouldn’t insult a group of people in the process. Your “fags” comment doesn’t exactly paint you in the best light. Now your comment is absurd because you really should look at demographics. You are correct that there are a lot of gay people living in San Francisco. However, if you think that there isn’t a large gay population in New York, Dallas, and Atlanta you really should get some better information.
> MDN, if you want to be taken seriously as real journalists, then start acting like it. – Mixed Bag
The whole point is capturing heads, which MDN, apparently, as a Mac-fan and troll site, has no problem achieving. That is journalism, 2006.
To early to tell.
I would think that fags would like the brown Zune. Might remind them of their favorite poop shoot.
Queers,
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Hopefully your brand of tolerance and acceptance will spread among the iPod-lemming masses and allow the Zune to be absorbed into the marketplace.
See everyone, Queers’ ability to live free of prejudice affords him the ability to see the Zune for what it is: anonther stunning accomplishment of the highest order from Microsoft. Wow. All I can say is Welcome to the Social!
You have to agree the Zune response this week has been an overwhelming success all over the county (except you-know-where). 70,000,000 iPods sold? Whatever. They aren’t normal like us, Queers. You get it.
We should get together and squirt.
Zunetang, I love your comments, really great satire!!! keep it up