“Microsoft this week can exult in the fact that the hard drive-based version of its new Zune portable media players, the Zune 80, is sold out online and in retail stores around the country. But this apparent success is muted by a simple fact: The Zune 80 was never manufactured in volume, and many retailers never got a single unit to begin with,” Paul Thurrott writes for WinInfo.
“While there are rumors of manufacturing delays, the truth is quite a bit more pragmatic: Looking at the market, Microsoft decided to prioritize the manufacturing of the flash RAM-based Zune 4 and Zune 8. These devices, which offer 4 GB and 8 GB of RAM, respectively, compete in the most lucrative part of the MP3 player market,” Thurrott writes. “That market, incidentally, is currently dominated by the Apple iPod nano, which also comes in 4 GB and 8 GB variants and costs the same as the respective Zune models.”
“The lackluster original brown Zune, now dubbed the Zune 30, is currently the best selling MP3 player on Amazon.com. Why has last year’s most amusing joke turned into a best seller, you wonder? The price has dropped to less than $90,” Thurrott writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Douglas” for the heads up.]
Even Thurrott seems to have no patience for fake “Zune is suddenly popular” twaddle. Not a good sign for Microsoft’s Zune (in keeping with its entire history).
Woohoo! first comment… Zune Tang is slipping!
wow! the zune is down to $90? they drop it another 100 it will be worth buying…..
Oh and to add to my comment… I work in a retail store that sadly caries the Zune’s… and we NEVER got the 80GB. Never even got signage for it. Only the 4GB, 8GB, and 30GB Models
Woot had them for like 60 bucks or something like that a week ago. Price a dog turd cheap enough and someone will think it is a deal… but you are still stuck with a dog turd in the end.
The Dude abides.
So, they made twelve and they’re sold out now? Check to see if they’re buried in Ballmer’s massive front lawn for some sort of twisted Easter Egg hunt.
Just because its on the best seller list doesn’t mean its selling the most units. It means that Amazon wants to promote it. Any out of the box webstore software allows you to manually input what is the best selling item, so I’d think that Amazon could figure out how to do it. The Kindle was the “top selling” electronics gizmo and isn’t even out yet…hmm…This is a well known phenomenon on other lists such as the NYT best sellers list.
Zune Tang®, oh Zune Tang®.
Where for art thou now,
Zune Tang®?
Zune 80? SOUNDs so 80s.. old, lame, outdated.
magic word: SOUND! Lol.
” . . .but you are still stuck with a dog turd in the end.”
And that’s why I avoid the bargain bin at PetSmart.
The old rule still works…
If you make it cheap enough or free,
then even junk will become popular.
@Jaco
I’ve often wondered about those lists too.
@ZuneTang
simply the silence before the storm.
ROFL!
The best way to sell out of any product is dont make any.
This is priceless – I nearly wet myself reading this!
Microsoft really is desparate if they use this tactic “Oh we sold out of the Zune online and in retail stores” they can tell the press.
What they wont tell the press is the reason they sold out of zunes is because they only made a few of them in the 1st place.
So, taking all these facts in consideration you can safely say that Microsoft sold the same amount of Zunes at the original version – ZERO.
Feel sorry for the kids, who will be getting the discounted Zunes for Christmas.
Apple Mexico has opened, does that means that iPhone is coming to Mexico?
The hilarity!
Heck, I could fetch more than $90 for my 4GB iPod mini.
“According to major electronics retailers in the suburban Boston area, no Zune 80s were shipped to stores at all”
That statement says it all really.
SPIN SPIN SPIN…
I actually want a brown Zune now, for $90. Maybe in my stocking (fingers crossed). I mean, I wouldn’t actually turn it on, or even open the box. But it would make a good conversation piece in a few decades when Apple is the dominant global manufacturer of consumer electronics and Microsoft is a distant memory, like Wang Computer or Lotus.
We are still waiting for the iPhone too, and we are one of the countries in the world with the highest per capita number of mobile phones, second to Finland only I belive.
P.S. I never saw a Zune, brown or otherwise…
Paul Thurrott writing the truth? What the hell? Better get those lotto tickets now…….
This is about as fair an article as what he normally spits in Apple’s direction. The best selling Zune is not really much of a “best seller” and the Zune 80 was never much of a seller at all. The Edsel, by contrast, sold well. It’s first year. Then several things converged to kill it – only one of which was the fact that it was over-priced. Before you jump up to say “it was a piece of @#$%”, let me remind you that most cars of that decade were not much – if any – better. Why do you think foreign cars were able to grab market share?
Dave
Even better deal — they are giving brown Zunes away.
Buy a $468 speaker system from Amazon.com and get a free Zune.
http://amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_5830832_2?ie=UTF8&docId=1000159351&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=gp-center-7&pf_rd_r=0CBC47TE8HD6TZNM0SE1&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=323958901&pf_rd_i=172623
I’m here to defend Zune Tang’s honor!!1
just kiddin’… lol.
Typical MS approach, give it away free or sell it for a loss so that they can increase market share. Then Ballmer takes the stage to say how well the product has been selling or how much “segmented” market share it now has.
I think y’all are a little too hard on this device. I mean, let’s face it, at the very least it’s added a useful word to our vocabularies. Example: “I had a little too much fibre today; I’d better go take a Zune.” Or, “When strolling along the sidewalks of Paris, be careful not to step on a piece of Zune”.