“Microsoft Corp., chasing the speeding iPod train, will [ship] a lineup of its Zune hand-held music and video players next month,” Joseph Menn reports for The Los Angeles Times Staff.
“Analysts said the new Zunes, which Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled to reporters in Redmond, Wash., on Tuesday, might help the company hold on to its sliver of the market and perhaps gain some ground against fledgling entrants. But Microsoft wasn’t given much chance of taking customers from Apple Inc.,” Menn reports.
“‘They’re not going to gain against Apple because there is nothing really innovative about what they’re doing,’ said Van Baker, a vice president at Gartner Group,” Menn reports.
Menn reports, “Microsoft spokesman Chris Stephenson said the company was aiming for more than 10% of the part of the market where the smaller Zunes would compete, which is new territory for Microsoft. Overall, he said, ‘our goal is to be the main No. 2.'”
Menn reports, “‘It’s fine to say you want to be a credible alternative to Apple,’ Jupiter Research Vice President Michael Gartenberg said. ‘But the market isn’t looking for credible alternatives. People are looking for iPods.'”
Full article, which unfortunately confuses the iPod touch with the iPhone, here.
Dina Bass reports for Bloomberg, “Microsoft was the fourth-biggest seller of portable digital players in the first half with 3 percent of the market, compared with Apple’s 71 percent, according to NPD Group Inc. in Port Washington, New York. Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, sold 1.2 million Zunes between their November release and June, less than 3 percent of the iPod’s sales in the same time.”
“As for this Christmas, the new versions won’t help Microsoft gain significant ground on Apple, said Van Baker, an analyst with Gartner Inc. in San Jose, California. The current second-biggest competitor, SanDisk Corp., isn’t standing still either, he said… ‘Apple is a moving target,’ Baker said. ‘Every time someone says we can make a product that’s competitive with Apple, guess what, that product isn’t there anymore.'”
Full article here.
This is quite funny, because these new zunes show Microsoft in its true light, a dinosaur that cannot innovate.
There isnt one original or new idea that have ever come out of Redmond – and never will be.
Any decent ideas that have have been from companies creating those ideas when Microsoft bought them and then strangled the creativity out of them.
Microsoft is not the company that changes society through innovation – Apple is. They are purely a company that photocopies other peoples ideas.
They sold 1.2 million Zunes into the retail channel. Not to customers they then offered the channel rebates and spiffs to move them. Tech Data sent thousands to the electronic recycling after MS basically paid them to giving them away to their customers. A returned Freebie is bad news. Tens of thousands basically when into to desks and cabinets unopened. Many more were bought at a big discount by parents looking to save some cash for presents for kids who had asked for iPods. After all Zunes are to iPods like Twonkies were to Twinkies.
The problem of MS is, their goal is “market share”.
I can’t remember Jobs introducing the first iPod with “We hope to achieve a market share of >50% with this device.” Instead, he went like “Look at this cool little gadget, imagine listening to your music on this baby.”
At Apple, they cherish their products. At MS, they love sales numbers; the products are just red-headed stepchildren.
@ Demon
kind of the same but left a bad taste in your mouth!
[removed]void(0);
wink
Two points:
The ONLY reason that they are giving a free update to Zune 30 and original Zune customers is because there are 900,000 “sold” Zunes on shelves across the US that would never sell unless they did.
The Zune WILL wirelessly sync without pluggin it in, but you have to manually do the sync. Which begs the question, if I have to go turn my computer on, then manually start a wireless sync, why not just plug the damned thing in?
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2007-10-03-bill-gates_N.htm
REDMOND, Wash. — Eight months from quitting his day job to focus on philanthropy, Microsoft (MSFT) Chairman Bill Gates remains enthusiastically engaged in promoting the software giant’s many new business initiatives. Gates is doing all he can to help Microsoft secure a foothold in digital entertainment, mobile devices and new Internet services, such as IP telephony and IPTV. He sat down this week with USA TODAY reporter Byron Acohido to explain why.
Q: What’s the coolest thing about the upgraded Zune?
A: Look at this thing! (Holds up a Zune 8) Three or four years ago there was nothing like this. This is cool as heck. I’m finding music I haven’t seen in 20 years. Hey, the Lovin’ Spoonful? They’re in this thing. I find one of their songs. I send it to friends I had an apartment with, it was actually 30 years ago. I can send it out to them and say, “Remember when we listened to this?” It’s amazing.
Agree, Zune is nothing innovative about it. I have to laugh at some of the comments at “zunescene.com” regarding the screen size. They are excited that its huge, yet fail to realize that its still 320×240 stretched. I don’t even think they realize that the iPods pixel density is double than these players. iPhone and iPod Touch have 163 ppi. 480×320! Yet these Zune users are excited to have Zune stretched resolution? LOL
@ Zuney Tunes:
Thanks for sharing; that is really sad!
Dear Child
You’ve been very, very, very bad this year.
“Nasty”, “naughty”, and “unkind” do not begin to do you justice.
A lump of coal would be too good.
This year, to teach you a lesson, I’m leaving a Zune in your stocking.
I know your behaviour will improve next year.
Sincerely,
– Santa
“our goal is to be the main No. 2.”
Doesn’t that just say it all about Microsoft? Don’t try to create a great product on its own merits that people will want, heavens no. Just make a solid #2 product. Take someone else’s form factor and throw all your own cheese inside and carp on and on about you feature list. And then you have a solid “No. 2” Dare to frikkin dream, you visionaries.
-c
MW: ‘shot’ (heard round the bathroom)
I had a solid number 2.
Once.
“Did you hear the wireless syncing on the Zune still requires it to be connected to and AC power cord.”
Actually, that’s not true. Funny, but untrue.
You can sync the Zune without having it plugged in. You go to the Zune and hit the “Sync Now” button and it will find your computer via WiFi and sync with it.
When you plug in the Zune, it will automatically try to sync with your computer (as though you’d hit the “Sync Now” button).
So if you come home and plug in your Zune then go to your computer and download some songs, they’ll automatically end up on your Zune (which is actually pretty slick). However, if you don’t plug in your Zune, they won’t until you press the “Sync Now” button on your Zune.
Yeah, I know. The truth is nowhere near as entertaining as the story.
wow! you guys are really insightful. you should all work for MSM selling your viewpoints about technology and trends. Oh, I forgot… you have to be in elementary school during work hours.
SHEEESH…, what a load of koolaid inspired anti microsoft hatred! Does it stem from insecurity? Do a test, just substitute operating system market share for MP3 players in all your comments and you see how smart your comments look… all of a sudden apple osX looks like the shit…. always number 2 and stuff like that… except in that domain another MS OS is #2… and #3 probably.
Get a life… is it only possible to enjoy the quality stuff you have by abusing the other options?
Cheers!
…and really the only thing more pathetic than all this MS hatred is someone who trolls it for insults.
Oops.
Actually, our hatred of MS is not because of the Kool-Aid, it’s just fun to bash them, and MDN is a haven for MS bashers.
Welcome to the Anti-Social
ummm…you guys are sad. Listen to yourselves…lol. Wow.
if someone screws you, you are allowed to bash them…
I have only seen one Zune in the wild. I have seen more people with portable CD players in that same time period. Who are these 1.2 million fools and where are they?
@larre
“if someone screws you, you are allowed to bash them…”
Well, that DOES describe about half of my sex life.
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
THE iPod KILLER HAS ARRIVED! Zune 2 is here! Squirt me baby! Better yet let me squirt you!
All of the Zune’s critics are silent in the face of our new software and models!
Nobody has anything that comes even remotely close to the “Squircle”. If Apple tries to copy this we will sue the living daylights out of them and cancel Office ’08 completely!
See all of the details at ZuneScene!
Tell ’em Steve sent ‘cha!
Nothing exposes MS’s moribund business model quite like Zune… While Apple rockets ahead with exciting new technology (iPhone, Touch iPod), huge glacial bureaucracies at MS take years to come up with a bad copy of _old_ technologies.
Just look at eBay to see how long the Chinese take to come up with iPod clones (weeks), and it shows what a joke MS is. China has overtaken the MS business model (ie, let someone else come up with the idea, then copy it), and MS has nowhere to go. Hilarious, unless you own shares in this dinosaur.
I just love these ANAL things. Every time they ANAL something I earn ANALY another $20*7000*X*Z
Suddenly AAPL follows the € instead of the fucked up $
“MS take years to come up with a bad copy of _old_ technologies. “
Except that the new Zune is a better hard disk based player than the iPod classic. If Apple had an hard disk based or higher capacity iPod Touch I could agree with you. But the iPod classic is getting a bit long in the tooth, not much innovation there in the last 6 years.
“I just love these ANAL things.”
Typical comment for a Swedish Pillow Biter.
If M$ shipped LESS than 3 percent of Apple’s iPod sales, and Apple has 71 percent then mathematically speaking M$ cannot possible have 3 percent of the total market.
Duhhhh!