Welcome, Zune. Seriously
Welcome, IBM. Seriously.
Apple thus greeted IBM into the desktop PC marketplace with a rather tongue in cheek full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal. Little did Apple guess at the time, but the IBM PC and its gaggle of clones, would later spell disaster for Apples unchallenged reign.
This time it’s the turn of Microsoft, who is today launching their much-hyped entry into the music player market. This time we don’t expect to see Apple to take anything for granted.
See here for previous Zune article – Need Apple Fear Zune
The press were initially kind to Zune, but recently seem to have tired of it and started to turn on it as more details and ‘hands on’ reviews.
In Businessweek Arik Hesseldahl refers to the ‘cool’ and iconic element that iPod has gained over previous interlopers in its market. He says
“First: The act of discovering cool causes cool to move on. If you accept that the iPod is still cool, as many still do, then the Zune can’t help but seem an arriviste, an interloper, poseur product encroaching on well-defined "cool" territory. When the uncool discover a cool place, the cool take their business elsewhere. Microsoft’s a little light on the cool bona fides, despite the Xbox 360.
The Zune will seem a not-pod, proving the second rule of cool: It cannot be manufactured, only observed, and then by those who are themselves cool. An iPod is a requisite accoutrement of cool. This is the result of a carefully constructed marketing effort on Apple’s part. Any attempt that Microsoft makes to market the Zune will fall short of the high bar set by Apple, which has an almost natural sense for turning its ads into entertainment. Describe for me three Apple TV ads you remember from the last two years. Now, try to describe for me three Microsoft ads. Bet you can’t. That’s the Apple marketing machine at work.
Finally, there’s the third rule of cool: You have to be cool to know cool. And since when is Microsoft cool? The iPod was cool from birth. The Zune will be seen for what it is: a me-too product that is expressing Microsoft’s envy at not being cool.”
Other reviews have focused not on the ‘Brown’ rather than ‘Chocolate’ element of the devices ‘cool’, but on the more technical advances and limitations. The main usp for Zune is the inclusion of WiFi built into the device, this allows for a limited sharing capability – play three times or auto-delete after a few days. WiFi is likely to drain the power supply of the device rapidly, so it will be interesting to see how much its used after the novelty wears off [note you’ll also need to find another person with a Zune first].
The 30Gb hard disk is OK but paltry when squared up against Apple’s 80Gb top of the range device. FM radio is also offered.
The software to download songs onto the device, Zune Marketplace has also come under criticism for being unstable and none intuitive. Furthermore it works only with a PC and any iPod users thinking of copying their songs onto Zune will find it that it’s not possible.
Even worse, customers who have bought songs from other download sites, such as Napster, using Microsoft’s ‘Play for Sure’ DRM will not be able to load the purchased songs onto the Zune. So effectively Microsoft have left many customers high and dry (Apple’s iTunes allows playback on both Mac, PC and iPod). The move to abandon customers who have been re-assured by the Microsoft branding may come back to haunt Microsoft quicker than they imagine.
Over at the New York Times David Pogue laments the apparent death of Play for Sure “So now Microsoft is starting over. Never mind all the poor slobs who bought big PlaysForSure music collections. Never mind the PlaysForSure companies who now find themselves competing with their former leader. Their reward for buying into Microsoft’s original vision? A great big ‘So long, suckas!’ ”
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal Laments the limitations of the 2 million versus 3.5 million songs on offer over on the iTunes store. He also touches on the ‘Halo’ effect that means the Zune has only 100 accessories versus the 3,000 on offer for the iPod.
It seems that its not likely that Zune will displace the iPod any time soon, Microsoft has had a number of attempts over the last four years to get into the personal stereo market, but has so far failed using its classic business model. That Microsoft has had to go it alone and produce both the hardware and software for the Zune by itself shows that the company has been frustrated by previous attempts to work with partners.
The entry of Microsoft in the personal stereo market means that consumers should win out as competition between Apple, Sony and Microsoft heats up – strong competition has always spurred on innovation.
So although it may not be on the lips of Steven Jobs – we’d like to say
“ Welcome, Zune. Seriously.”
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