The beginning of the end for the Microsoft Zune
Recently several news outlets have reported Gamestop’s decision to drop the Zune due to lack of sales. The Zune, which has been out on the market for about two years, started off strong but now has been lagging in sales for a while.
Microsoft’s Zune, which was suppose to be the answer to the iPod, put up very little in the way of competition. At this point calling the Zune even an iPod competitor is giving it to much credit. During the first six months of launch the Zune managed to sell about a million units, but after that everything started going downhill.
Basically hardcore consumers who are tech junkies are the first ones to buy into the Zune and after that its clearly evident few have decided to ditch the iPod for the Zune. With almost two years under it’s belt the Zune managed to sell two million units total, taking them over 12 months to sell the later million units.
With Apple selling over 150 million units, the Zune was unable to even make a dent in Apple’s best selling iPod. It may just be time for Microsoft to call it quits on the music market.
Microsoft has been fervently trying to steal market shares from other leaders in their market. In recent news we have heard about Microsoft trying to take advertising dollars from Google. Also we saw Microsoft attempting to take home video game console dominance from Sony’s 120 million some console user base and now we see Microsoft attempting to take market shares from Apple in the music business.
Some may even say this goes to the root of Microsoft’s heritage. How they came to achieve the operating system dominance and success by bullying smaller businesses or buying them out and marketing their product as their own.
The way things are going, one can not help wonder if Microsoft have just run out of ideas on expanding their business and decided to jump on the “me-too” bandwagon.
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May 25th, 2008
Well, considering the fact that iPods were not (and still not) even offered at GameStop in the first place, blows your assumption away. On the other hand, the Zune isn’t doing any much worse against the “glorious” iPod than other competitors, so are you seriously assuming that every manufacturer out there should pack his things and quit the fight cuz there is no reason to resist anymore …War is over??! How bout this: “hey guys, please be a little quiet, Mr. iPod is here and doesn’t like to be disturbed!!” — This is RIDICULOUS!
May 25th, 2008
Agreed with Malk, how is it bad if its competitor isn’t even there? In the store the Zune was dropped from…
I think the Zune is doing a rather fine job, just it takes time for those dead set fan boys to understand that iPods SUCK
Since iPods have such a huge market, it will take a bit for the Zune to grab hold. Also, I could be wrong but Microsoft won’t stop the Zune now, especially against the iPod which I think it will defeat :)
May 25th, 2008
What are you guys smoking? 2 million vs 150 million? That’s like Michael Dell telling Apple to sell off the equipment and give the shareholders the dividends when they were what – 2-3% of the PC market? Microsoft won’t drop the Zune (for awhile at least) but it’s not a reasonable competitor to the iPod either. The prevailing belief (true or not) is that interoperability with Microsoft products sucks so nobody will be dropping close to 2 ben franklins to confirm their suspicions anytime soon.
May 25th, 2008
Well, 2 of actual 50,000 Zune buyers have to defend their purchase but basically it’s taken MS 2 YEARS to ship what Apple sells in ONE WEEK. The Zune is as dead as the XBox 360 – MS cannot do consumer products (MSN, MSN search, PDAS, watches, etc, etc ) – it’s as simple as that. No one buys MS unless it’s the price is the only consideration – people ONLY “buy” the OS because it’s included in a $499 machine. As the recent NPD report noted, MS has gone from 98% market share to 34% market share in $1,000+ personal computers in 7 YEARS! MS is dying.
May 25th, 2008
Hmm, I don’t know, hawkontherocks, what you’ve been smoking but I only recall myself saying that this very piece of information (about the Zune dropped from GameStop) is absolutely useless – given the fact that GameStop had ZERO iPods to offer! I wasn’t writing that the Zune made/makes a very good case against the iPod; I merely said that it wasn’t doing worse than other competitors. However, I disagree with you: I don’t think it’s an image or anything problem that Microsoft has, it’s all about 3 simple-math reasons:
1. Zunes still dont have edge over iPods (e.g. features, model diversity)
2. Far far much less known than iPods as such
3. 2nd better Generation only available in US
So I think serious comparisons would be possible after release 3rd/4th gen at earliest!!
May 25th, 2008
Oh yes, jbelkin, btw, I’m a (proud) iPod owner if you like! However, …I keep good shape holding on being OBJECTIVE ;)
May 25th, 2008
Remember Dell DJ? It was a fine device, wasn’t it? Luckily Dell quickly realized there was little point in dumping resources into production of a product which cannot keep up with the competition. Microsoft has more money to waste and shareholders do not seem to mind. So they will put together a team of engineers, dump another billion into R&D and manufacturing and announce a “brand new, all redesigned” Zune. And I will be reading it on my iPhone and wonder “Why would anyone want a device that only plays music and video? Seems rather limited…”
May 25th, 2008
I should make the tried and true historical Apple zealot response about “Market share doesn’t matter. Rolls Royce has a minuscule percentage of the market. You can keep your mass market Yugo.” That felt good.
May 25th, 2008
I-Pods are over rated and thats the worst I could say about them (I own one). Zune I won’t touch with a 10 foot pole…I’ll tell you why.
What started out as a great idea with the mesh like technology where one Zune can transfer to another Zune with wireless. MSFT at the behest of the entertainment industry made a 3 play limit and or 3 day limit on whatever was transfered from one Zune to another Zune…even if it was a song you made yourself or a even just a couple of audio clips from your baby’s first words.
Worse of all, MSFT decided not to include its “Plays for sure” DRM management on the Zune despite the fact that “Plays for sure” was at the time starting to become the defacto DRM standard for mid priced and higher end players (other than the I-Pod).
Instead MSFT decided to come up with yet another new DRM scheme that is incompatible with the existing “Plays for sure” players and this DRM scheme is tied to Zune and MSFT’s music download service and is not compatible with anything else except Zune.
(Yes this is the same company that fostered a operating system called Vista on a unwilling public and a unwilling Corporate IT World….but thats another story….)
So here is MSFT, seeing how well I-POD did with its proprietary DRM system and lock-in. So MSFT decides to get in on the act and come up with yet another new scheme but incompatible with their original “plays for sure” , incompatible with Apple (not MSFT’s fault on that one), and said to be also incompatible with subscription music services like Napster and Rhapsody.
All this comes on the heels of the death of DRM in legal music downloads sales with Amazon, Napster and Walmart all selling MP3s.
Adding further insult to the injury, MSFT not only doesn’t use “Plays for sure” for Zune. But will no longer support “Plays for sure” DRM keys from its MSN Music store.
To further add insult to the injury, one can now buy a 2 GB “generic” MP3 player (Curtis) for about $29.00 or even less on sale just to play some tunes without busting their wallet in the process.
So why does I-POD sell well and Zune doesn’t? I provided some of the answers above. But the I-POD was very well marketed and came at the right time and at the right moment and the momentum continues.
To be fair, both the I-POD, Zune and “generic” MP3 players all plays MP3’s. But there are much more I-POD after market products than for Zune and at the right price. Apple is enjoying a huge renewed interest in its computers at the expense of Microsoft and Vista.
Are we back to the old argument of Apple vs. Microsoft? Yes, not just in computers, but also music players as well.
May 26th, 2008
Zune to be gone.
May 26th, 2008
Microsoft is finding out that it’s loyal Apple hating, MacSux T-shirt wearing fans really are 2 digit losers that won’t pay for anything. If Microsoft really wants Zunes to move, they should make it possible for Microsoft Geekdom to pirate or steal them. Then they’d have a real iPod competitor.
May 26th, 2008
Microsoft thought that it made a consumer player by making its look and feel sort of like an iPod, but it locked it down so hard that only a Rightwing corporate It person concerned about LAN security could love it so, really, the Zune was for LAN corporates. MS never realized this. MS should have simply marked it to Rightwing corporates in whose space it would have found a loyal following. I am sure that corporate secretaries could have been forced to use it, for example, to record the meetings minutes.
No wonder it had little traction in the consumer space where the Liberal view prevails and few Liberals like to be locked down.
May 26th, 2008
Boy, there are some ludicrous posts on this topic, including those who spell it “I-POD”…WTF?!
Microsoft’s lack of innovation, lazy development and “corporate before customer” mentality gives them the idea they can move into any new hot technology, copy the market leader then slap on a Microsoft logo and people will buy it simply because it’s their product. Fat chance these days, Monkey Boy (lookout for that incoming egg!!)
Say what you think about the iPod, but a 100+ million people aren’t going to buy a shoddy product…but a couple of million might.
And I, like many, could care less if the Zune stays, goes, sh1ts or dies. It’s just than insignificant!
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October 30th, 2008
Hey Lino, did you ever stop to think that your condescending defense of a consumer product, of all things, is clear evidence that you are a conformist? Ironic that a “Liberal” would so vehemently defend a consumer product. You have been marketed to just like the other 150 million. Except in your solipsistic, narcissitic rant you, of course, can be the only one to hold true product awareness and total enlightenment. Anyone who sees this issue in political terms as left and right is lost. Go bang your drum hippee.
March 29th, 2009
MS has not done anything since Windows 95 – The talent is long gone and they have an idiot running the company. Anyone with a business can clearly see that MS is stretched too thin and is losing on all counts. MS = GM