More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Zune hardware gone from Microsoft site (Updated: They’re baaack!)

15 years ago

“Microsoft has removed references to all Zune hardware from the official Zune website, signaling the final nail in the coffin for the media player that failed to gain traction against Apple’s iPod lineup,” Sam Oliver reports for AppleInsider.

“As first noted by tech journalist Ed Bott, Microsoft’s Zune.net website was updated on Monday to remove all references to devices,” Oliver reports. “Microsoft last updated its Zune hardware in 2009 with the Zune HD, which aimed to take on Apple’s iPod touch with an OLED multi-touch screen and access to the $15-per-month unlimited download Zune Pass service.”

Oliver reports, “Microsoft has yet to officially announce that the Zune HD has been discontinued, but it’s a logical step as the market for devoted media players continues to shrink with more powerful smartphones offering the same or better functionality in a multi-purpose device… Reports first began to surface in March that Apple sic] planned to abandon its line of Zune media players.”

Read more in the full article here.

UPDATE: 3:02pm EDT: “Later Monday, the site was updated and the Zune HD hardware appeared on the site once again. A spokesperson for Microsoft told Bott the removal of the device from the page was a ‘mistake,'” Oliver reports.

MacDailyNews Take: Imagine is Apple deleted iPods from their website and then claimed it was a mistake. Well, since nobody buys Zunes anyway, for Microsoft, we guess is is a minor mistake. It’s pretty amazing that somebody noticed Zune going AWOL at all.