“Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it is ‘not unreasonable’ for the company to introduce a mobile phone combined with features of its Zune digital music player to compete with Apple Inc.’s iPhone,” Daisuke Wakabayashi reports for Reuters.
“The Zune phone, a topic of speculation for months since Microsoft introduced its first digital music player last year, could be driven by consumer demand for one multimedia device to make phone calls, play music and take pictures,” Wakabayashi reports.
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve said it before, so we’ll say it again: Microsoft’s Zune is the WNBA of the digital media device world.*
Wakabayashi continues, “‘It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think at some point there might some integrated thing,’ Mindy Mount, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, told investors at Citigroup’s global technology conference.”
MacDailyNews Take: Not unreasonable? Hell, we can guarantee that if they do it, it will be some “thing” – integrated in assbackwards fashion, as usual. That’s a foregone conclusion based upon decades of crap products from Microsoft. Forget some integrated phone thing, the Zune itself is “unreasonable.” It was years too late, offered way too little, and it was fecal brown. It’s a re-badged joke that any other company would have already killed if they were even stupid enough proceed with the launch in the first place.
Wakabayashi continues, “Microsoft has sent mixed signals about the Zune phone. At the time it introduced the Zune last year, the company said a Zune phone was definitely part of its future plans. Earlier this year, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said at a CEO forum that the Zune phone is not a concept that Microsoft would ever pursue.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bottom line: Microsoft has no idea what they’re doing. Who’s surprised?
*Boring mediocrity that real people couldn’t care less about propped up by vastly larger organizations with agendas unrelated to the product itself. Ginned-up “interest” cannot sustain failure for long.
hahahahahahaha
hahahahahhahaha
hahhahahahahahahah
Wow, can’t wait to have my first brown phone!
Unreasonable? Yes. Yes, it is.
LOL! how many billions are they gonna waste this time?
Enough to stop famine all over the world I bet…
morons
I suppose it will allow users to squirt messages between zunePhones. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if MSFT reinvented SMS by simple renaming it and making it less secure and more broken.
Always trying to compete!
Can they just stick to one thing and to it right?
Who needs M$ in every market? That’s obsession.
And another money losing product.
In fact, I want M$ to release ZunePhone, maybe it will be M$’s Titanic, the final nail in the coffin.
Unreasonable? No. Unsellable? Yes.
more like no reasonable….
it’s here already
Why does MDN even bother plugging the Zune?
Zune Tang?….*silence*
Must be reinstalling Windows, anti-malware and fighting WGA servers on his cheap home cooked PC from parts gleamed off the local sidewalks.
This article is more of the punchline of a bad joke. Much more idiotic is the summary written by Paul Thurott:
http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/iphone_07.asp
Paul’s quotes:
1) the iPhone is absolutely revolutionary
2) And while I have indeed provided a rating, or score, for the device, I do so only with the understanding that this rating is inherently flawed for two reasons. First, like any review, this iPhone review is a slice in time, an opinion about a product that is in flux and will no doubt change and improve in the months and years ahead. Second, everyone’s needs are different, and while I believe that the iPhone is utterly useless as a traditional smart phone, it is incredibly compelling in that it has created a new product category (Gee thanks Paul. So basically you are saying ANY review of any TECH product is inherently flawed because that review is only a slice in time, and everyone’s needs are different – wow, you have to be the worst journalist ever)
more to come…
I just can’t wait to squirt phone calls.
More Paul Thurott:
3) And as with the original Mac, it’s highly likely that the computing innovations seen first in the iPhone will popularize themselves further as Microsoft and other companies adapt them to their own products. Whatever happens, we’ll be able to trace a major form of computing in the future back to the iPhone just as we can now trace the modern PC back in time to the Mac. (Paul is saying that Apple has the best ideas, but lacks the ability to successfully market them…therefore MS will come in and do it right and make lots of money)
4) Looking back at the first six parts of this review, we might consider rating these functional areas separately and then combine and average them to arrive at a final score. This approach has some value, but is by definition flawed because some will prefer to weight certain features higher than others. But with this limitation in mind, let’s see what happens. (Again, Paul has no idea how to offer a good review. He is only good at writing in disclaimers for himself so in the future he can say “but guys, I SAID that my review was flawed)
more to come…
5) I examined the iPhone’s design and usability, as well as its core features, like the multi-touch screen with rotational capabilities, the virtual keyboard, the ambient light sensor, the device’s wireless capabilities, its built-in memory (and lack of expansion capabilities), and its Mac OS X underpinnings. This isn’t a huge win for the iPhone, overall: the hardware is excellent, even leading edge, but it is lacking numerous features and some core technologies–like rotation–are sparingly or only partially implemented throughout the device. It’s unclear whether the OS X base is a boon or curse at this point; the number of iPhone vulnerabilities that quickly popped up the wake of its release suggests it’s not much of a strength right now. And using a full desktop OS obviously adds needless complexity.
(Paul basically throws his weight behind Windows Mobile CS because hey, it doesn’t add needless complexity. And hey, he forgets the fact the core techs like rotation and cover flow leave competitors behind. Because all apps don’t use them he believes the iPhone is junk. He rates the tech a 3/5)
more to come…
Unreasonable? No. Undesirable and unmarketable? Yes.
6) The iPhone is a superb portable media player
7) It’s hard to exaggerate how problematic the iPhone’s email and Web browsing features are. Email is particularly bad
8) While Apple promises a “full Web” experience on the iPhone, and not the thumbnail-sized view you get with most smart phones, it delivers that experience through a second-rate version of a third-rate browser, Safari.
9) The iPhone delivers more of the Web than other cell phones (Paul rates the internet as a 3/5. Basically, he admits the web is better than any other cell phone but because he gets serviced for free by MS employees on the weekends, he only gives it a 3/5)
more to come…
10) If you’re in the market for a smart phone, forget the iPhone. It’s a lot more expensive than the Windows Mobile and Blackberry competition (Paully, you need to do your homework and add costs incurred at the end of a two year term to make that statement. Funny how you slag other journalists but enjoy reaming yourself)
11) It is gorgeous to look at and use, sleek and pretty, and desirable.
12) you will love the device more than you should
13) might just be the nicest cell phone ever made
14) The truth is, no one needs an iPhone
15) The iPhone is awesome. There’s just one problem: You don’t need it.
For that matter, no one NEEDS a car, a cell phone, heck even a computer. Brilliant Paully. You are just a tad hypocritical. Terrible review that leaves people feeling more confused. Just really bad journalism if you can call it that.
ZunePhone:
You may listen to your voice mail 3 times or for 3 days after which they disappear forever.
@Danno Bonano (Or is your real name Paul Turdrott?
Enough, no one reads his crap. He’s a shill of M$. Please stop polluting my screen.
How many points will it cost to call my Mom? How many points to a dollar again?
I have not seen one single Zune in use, in person, in a store. Who is buying these things
“I have not seen one single Zune in use, in person, in a store. Who is buying these things”
Nobody. They’re only “shipped” not sold. It could be said they are “shitting” in stores.
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Look! Over there! The Phune! The Phune! It’s gonna set the world alight. Literally. If they ever make it.
“I have not seen one single Zune in use, in person, in a store. Who is buying these things”
M$ execs, for their grandfathers.
Micro$oft Zune-The Senator Larry Craig of MP3 players.
The only unreasonable thing here is the expectation for such a device to succeed.
@Danno Bonano – Thanks for posting Thurott’s asinine drivel; I am always amused and curious about his transparent shill-blains but I don’t want to give him any hits.
Steve Ballmer is a skin mite. He lives and feeds upon the body of Microsoft. When he has on occasion caught a glimpse of the greater body he is moved to skip and prance within a defined enclosure. When he’s not being a skin mite he’s a moth flying around the bright light of Apples front porch …a mesmerized, bothersome moth …and when he’s not being a moth he’s a man ..a strange and perplexed man with bullish brow and schizophrenic smile who exhausts himself before his time is up and it’s time once more to be a mite.
I really hope Micro$haft does make a Zune Phone. I laughed for weeks when I first saw the Zune; I’m sure the phone will have me ROTFLMAO for months!!!!!!
Thomas, no worries….when I read it I went a little APE $H)T.
I was expecting crap but even this amazed me. Thurott is like Dvorak. It’s amusing to read how stupid they are but they can amaze you still.
Mindy Mount…
Sounds like a porn star name.
MW: Act. To be a porn star, you do not have to act well.
Here’s a preliminary ad for the ZunePhone:
LOL! That vid is great!
Gates should stick to giving money away. Its the only worthwhile thing he is capable of.
you know what’s fscked up? thurott writes for a website (windowsitpro.com) that is owned by a client of ours. i don’t know that i can email him and tell him what a fsckwad he is because of that. damn, this sucks…
MDN: price, as in ‘the price i have to pay.’
Microsoft needs to follow Palm and axe off a loser product before it launches……
The Phune… BRILLIANT lessisMore! I almost choked.
The Phune will just be another bottomless pit that Microsoft pours money down. Why on earth don’t MS shareholders revolt?
I wish MDN would save your takes until the end of the article. It’s annoying when I’m trying to read something and to have it continually interrupted by your views. While your takes are almost always spot on, I would like to finish reading the article and form my own take before I read yours.
Microsoft knows what we really want to do with touch screens, oh boy:
I asked on of my class of 20 year olds if they knew about Microsoft’s mp3 player. They looked at me with blank faces. One asked whether if was the same of an ipod? What could I say…not really was my reply.
Then they asked what it was called (and then the comedy time started). “Zune” was my reply. Well you get the idea. I then finished with the choice of brown as one of Microsoft’s excellent choices. Lord knows what a Microsoft phone would be like; something like Vista?
“Not unreasonable” does not equal reasonable.
Who will Microsoft hire to re-badge an existing smartphone into the Zune Phone? Samsung, LG, Motorola…
@Danno Bonano
Calm down – no need to re-write the whole article here. The link will do.
I know MS are a stupid company, but bringing out a zune phone would be even stupider.
Windows Mobile phones are media players + phones, so wouldn’t this mean they are admitting that the windows mobile product line is crap / not worthy to compete against iPhone?
“Mindy Mount, chief financial officer of Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division”
I saw her in “Mindy Mounts Monty” an “Mindy’s Mounties”. Quite and athlete, that one.
I think thats a great video, My guess is when you hit the windows button at the bottom you get the good old screen of death?
I tried to order one of Mindy’s movies (“Driving Up Miss Daisy”) but they were in HD-DVD only. <chicka-chicka-ohno>
Oh, please, please produce a Zune phone.
I’ve just stopped laughing over the Zune itself, and we could all use some fresh Zune jokes.
To MS and all of it’s loyal consumers:
ENOUGH. Microsoft was once a mighty company but now is only a shell of its former self. It is a failure as is everything that it produces. It is now time for MS to go the way of the dinosaur. Just a remnant best suited for museums.
“there might [be] some integrated thing”
Was Mindy Mount lifted from pubic relations?
Before I think about buying any M$ hardware product I turn on my XBOX 360 and 3/4 red circle glow.
I am literally stuck with a two piece (unit and power supply) doorstop.
The only reason the Zune’s could sell is if they their quality is really bad and they are “hard wired” for exchange server. Then IT people, morons, sorry I repeat myself, will force executives to carry the brown devices and they will because, they will be so unreliable that nobody will be able to tell if that emergency 4 AM board meeting notice made it to everyone. Hence providing executives with plausible deniability. Which is why M$ products sells so much in the first place….the unreliability is a feature.
Just my $0.02
So, if I had a Zune phone (which God forbid), would I only be able to squirt my telephone calls to another Zune phone owner (presuming I could find one)?
MW: ‘think’; as in, ‘I don’t think so.’
And just when it looked like MS hit a home run with the 360, a full third of the crap boxes started dying.
MS just doesn’t do hardware very well.
@Zune Thang…
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
The zzzunephone, you can squirt (dial) to the same number 3 times.
Your dime, our call.
wait wait wait.