i still think that ultimately the Zune will do OK, meaning it won’t be a complete failure – it surely won’t make a dent in iPod, that’s for sure. MS invested a lot, and supposedly the player interface is pretty nice. it’s def still behind the iPod curve, of course, in terms of product design and ergonomics, size, weight.
i think Zune’s major problem is its advertising. not only is it just geeks who know about Zune in the first place, MS’s ad campaign is super confusing – ‘welcome to the social’? what’s that? who in the world would know what they’re talking about if they hadn’t read up on the Zune for months? the ads just show a bunch of people being social – it doesn’t really touch on the fact that they’re promoting a portable music player. this ad is trying to appeal to hip, tech savvy early adopters – people that generally don’t subscribe to MS’s products. it’s hard to believe, and i keep saying this to my friends that listen to me when we talk about it, that after all of the schooling that Apple’s done on everyone regarding marketing and designing their products, things like this can still happen.
oh, and apparently Zune is currently incompatible w/ Vista, as seen through these posts. now that’s just beyond hilarious.
- Zune installation problems, w/ pics: http://www.flx-tech.net/2006/11/zune_on_early_sale_at_bestbuy_1.html
- Zune sales starting way down: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/11/15/lack-of-internal-talks-at-microsoft-google/
- Zune incompatible w/ Vista: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=104
I got this zune download that is a blast. i am glad microsoft is catching up. I know they get a lot of flack but i like them