Worth Reading?
-7 [21 votes]
Realistically, Apple didn’t really need to do what it did on Wednesday to maintain its stronghold on the MP3 player market. After all, the iPod (in all of its variations) has something like a 75% market share. Other big names have attempted to challenge the iPod, but most simply could not compete against the marketing juggernaut headed by Steve Jobs.
The Zune was Microsoft’s answer to the iPod. It took everything that the iPod Video had — a large hard drive, color screen, and so on — and added WiFi connectivity. Sure, the wireless sharing was a little crippled, but it was something that Apple did not have. Bill Gates hoped that this would be enough, and while it didn’t quite topple the iPod, the Zune showed that Microsoft was serious.
So, what can the Redmond, Washington-based company do now that Apple has a whole new family of iPods? What can Microsoft do to respond to these latest creations in such a way that they outdo the new 3rd generation iPod nano, the iPod Classic, and the iPod Touch?
Destroy the iPod Classic
Let’s start with the obvious competition. The Zune and the iPod Classic are fundamentally the same device. To compete against the new iPod Classic, I feel that Microsoft should take a five-pronged approach.
1. More space. The current Zune has a mere 30GB of memory and this was on par with the iPod Video at the time. Now that Apple has bumped the capacity to 80GB and 160GB, Microsoft finds itself playing catch-up. For the next-generation Zune, they need to push the storage space much, much further. Sell the new Zune with at least 250GB.
2. Keep the massive screen size. One area where the Zune dominated the old iPod Video was the size of the screen. If you want to watch videos on the go, you don’t want to squint.
3. Lose the chubby. The current Zune is fat, chunky, and heavy. While the “double shot” casing is cool, the Zune isn’t much of a looker overall. Slim is in and the next Zune needs to be more fashionable.
4. Stereo Bluetooth. Even the iPhone doesn’t have this. Wouldn’t it be great if the next-gen Zune had Bluetooth A2DP? Wouldn’t it be even better if stereo Bluetooth headphones were included for free?
5. De-cripple the WiFi. Instead of restricting what the WiFi radio can do, why not allow consumers to synchronize their music libraries wirelessly? That would be a HUGE selling point.
Where’s the Zune Nano?
I know that it’s not advisable to become the jack of all trades and the master of none, but because there was no smaller version of the Zune available, Microsoft lost a huge chunk of the market. I personally enjoy the 2G iPod nano much more than the 5.5G iPod Video, simply because of its physical size.
Now that the new nano is even smaller, Microsoft needs to make something that people will want to use while jogging or at the gym.
Produce a flash-based Zune with loads of storage, a color screen, and maybe even a wireless radio or two. Wouldn’t it be awesome if the Zune Nano (or whatever you want to call it) had WiFi like its bigger brother? Wouldn’t it be cool if it had a giant touchscreen? Flash memory is getting cheaper and (physically) smaller. It’s time to capitalize.
I’m officially anti-Zune at this point. the Zune was a little better than the iPod at the time. MS made some hints and gestures towards firmware updates and such and hasn’t delivered. They’ve asked current users what they would like to see, and done nothing about it. I don’t mind the size, but being big give it no advantage.
The screen is “big” but the resolution sucks for the size. My BB8830 looks better, the iPod’s look better. M$ isn’t going to fix the wifi in gen1, because there is nothing to fix. there is no input for a keyboard so they can’t take advantage of wifi hotspots for internet browsing like the touch. The 3×3 was neat when it came out, but ultimately it’s like having 8 cup holders in a 2 seat car. Yeah, it’s gotta lot of cup holders, but all you do with it is fill it up with trash.
If the above pictures are the next gen in actuality, then you can call the Zune dead. There is no innovation in that design, just a reskinning of the old thing. When I watched Engadgets coverage of new iPod announcements, the announced the 160gb Classic, ok yeah that’s huge, but I don’t want to go out and buy once, the new Nano-same thing “oh that’s neat I guess”. The iPod touch, that’s sweet. I would have left work and bought one that same day if it was in stores.
MS has to make a significant hardware change for me to consider another Zune device.
Even if it has everything you asked about, there really isn’t anything killer about it. Bluetooth is neat, but ultimately it doesn’t sell the device on it’s own. I can’t honestly think of anything MS could do that would make me buy a Zune again. Unless it’s basically the same thing as the Touch (same size, etc) with 30GB of storage for the same price. Maybe integrate a FM transmitter that doesn’t suck would be something. I just think that they’ve terribly botched this thing. Apple listened to everything we hated about the Zune, and everything that we wanted and they MADE the device. Microsoft went to the lunch, and stayed for happy hour.
Still yet, over at ZuneInsider they play the “we aren’t saying anything” game. Which is going to bite them in the hind quarters, cause on September 28th I’m going to the Apple store to pick up a iPod Touch. If MS doesn’t release some info about the next gen player with some killer app by then, they’ve lost me, and a lot of others I’m sure. If they do release something by then, well. Tough luck MS, you have an established pattern of being beat to the market. I’ll have a Touch, and if you do do something great, Apple will one up you, and I can sell the touch easier than it’s been trying to sell my Zune.
/rant.
Zune…give up, there is no hope now.
Michael, you are so far off the mark it is, well, remarkable!
Currently there are MP3 players that are cheaper and do more than the iPod. There are also cellular smartphones that are cheaper and do more than the iPhone. NONE of that matters without ease of use: the User Interface.
Right now, the UI on the iTunes/iPod/iPhone combination simply blows everything else away. Period. Full stop. YOU may not think so. Bill Technogeek may not think so. But John “I don’t care about the Geeky features I just want to use it,” the person most likely to use an iPod or iPhone thinks so. And that’s why the iPod rules the MP3 market. That’s why the iPhone outsold all other smartphones in July (the last month with complete figures).
I would absolutely LOVE to see the Zune or some other player and smartphone and online store come out and give some sort of effective competition to Apple’s. The result would be more features, ease of use, and lower prices. But as long as technogeeks such as yourself are looking to add more features without a Steve Jobs paraphrasing Bill Clinton, saying, “It’s the UI, stupid!” neither the Zune nor any other MP3 player or smartphone is going to come close.
“For the next-generation Zune, they need to push the storage space much, much further. Sell the new Zune with at least 250GB.”
Those drives (160 GB) in the IPod Classic, is built by Toshiba and it the best they can do for now in this size, it have nothing to do with MS and Apple. Apple use it and not MS.
Thanks
Apple keeps pushing so Zune has a long ways to go before Zune EVER reaches that good. Zune is just sooo far from development… Apple just has the lead in MP3 players and Microsoft can hardly compete.
Microsoft should stick with Office & Windows.
The thing is, competitions between these companies benefits us as consumer more than you think, so i will keep hoping these two companies will chase each other without an end :)
Zune was always behind. The wifi was a joke, the screen was larger but lower quality, it appears to have a wheel but it is a d-pad, the DRM is more restrictive, the music store suffered from compatibility and selection issues, the music player is a skinned version of Media Player (which has always sucked)…the Zune never had a chance.
While MS and fans of the Zune are talking about the great things that the Zune could\should do, Apple is doing it.
This is so similar to all the promises MS was making with Longhorn\Vista, while every year Apple was shipping new and improved versions of OSX.
The Zune and every other player were already so far behind and trying to match the efforts of Apples’ iPod line up from 1 & 2 years ago.
This refreshed line is going to force every company back into the research & development labs. In the meantime Apple is working on the next level.
MS and all competitors needs to stop following in this case and start innovating.
The things you mention, like a bigger HD than the iPod are just following Apple. Trying to out Apple, Apple is not going to work.
MS has already tried to emulate the iPod\iTunes experience with Zune\Zune Mrkt.
It ain’t working.
Come up with smart easy to use interfaces without the huge restrictions.
Do something thats’ really differentiates from them. Make the experience interesting and less confusing, (Zune Points).
Otherwise, Apple is going to be uncatchable like MS is with windows.
Let’s face it. Microsoft just doesn’t have its finger on the public’s pulse any more. Word used to be good, around version 5.1, but since then it’s just bloated and unnecessarily complicated. I tried to find something to say about Excel, but it’s just so mediocre and non-descript, I can’t get worked up either way. Powerpoint, especially compared with Keynote, is a big over complicated heap of crap. And the OS! I have a number of friends who have “upgraded” to XP from Vista.
Microsoft software sucks.
They make good mice, though.
John Davis
With new iPOD touch & the iPhone getting WFI capabilties and thus being able to download songs directly onto the device, I’d say MS has about six months to pull off a miracle or they’ll fall so far behind that they might was well scrap the whole Zune effort.
Putting aside the US market, has MS launched the Zune in Europe or Japan yet?
According to Steve’O, Apple’s in 22 countries! That’s a lot of catching up to do!
Yea, Zune has a long ways to go in development before they can EVER top apple.
ZUNE
Abandon hope, all who enter here.
“Skate to where the ball will be, not where it is.”
It’s true in sport, it’s true in iPod killing.
Microsoft cannot do that. (Note: not ‘won’t', ‘can’t'). Their business strategy at the current time is to say, ‘there’s a profit being made in (insert name of market segment here), we’ll copy that’.
In every case, their opposition are younger, fitter, leaner and hungrier, and, even more important, no longer scared of the bullies from Redmond.
The Microsoft ship is holed below the water line, but it’s so big that the bridge doesn’t know it yet. It’s still a great party on board …but don’t book too many trips ahead.
Very true!
The Zune will get thrown out of this game very fast unless they have been working on something even better but I would be quite surprised if they had.
What Microsoft should do is stop everything to do with Zune, xBox and all the other things it is trying to compete in and thereby losing more than $8 billion a year on them, and instead spend the money sorting out Windows and Office, and reducing their prices by half.
Where Microsoft thinks there are profits to be made by competing equally, it only manages losses.
Without it’s monopolies Microsoft is bankrupt.
@JonT
Very true!
as sad as it seems, i think microsoft is at its edge. When Macbook air hits the market on Feb. 15th, microsoft is a done deal. Comming in as the thinnest notebook on the planet, microsoft will have to start engineering up. It seems that mac is now the new windows. Either bill gates needs to retire, or create newer ideas!!!