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Colour me confused. Microsoft have kicked off their all-singing, all-dancing ad campaign for the Zune 2 – under the byline “You Make It You” – and as far as I can tell they’re suggesting that you have plans to fill your PMP with kangaroos and jellyfish. What’s more concerning than the odd menagerie is the fact that the advert indicates that the Zune 2 has a touch-sensitive screen.
Check out the video for yourself, after the cut…
Perhaps I’m being over-cautious, but the advert – which aired for the first time in the US yesterday, and is part of a multimillion campaign to steal attention away from the iPod – features a woman touching her Zune 2 screen both at the beginning and at the end of the piece in order to interact with its contents. Now the Zune 2 does have a touch-sensitive control pad, but not a touchscreen.
What do you think – am I being unduly critical or are Microsoft pushing the boundaries in order to summon echoes of the iPod Touch? Let us know in the comments.
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Many Microsoft commercials are about empowering the people and transforming them (see “Your ptential. Our passion.” motto). I think the idea is the same here.
Note that there is no specific action about touching what it shows is the waves (you can see them on any LCD screen with no strong glass surface) and getting in which is a rather classic visual suggestion.
Now it will be interesting to investigate what regular people will think. Mean geeks are not usually the norm out there and they know the answer befor asking the question anyway ;-).
It’s very obvious that she is touching it to be pulled in and touching as she exits.
Nowhere does it even begin to look like touch sensitive and I would have to say someone would be very foolish if they thought that based on this commercial.
You are being unduly critical. Get a Zune and be happy~
The ad is comparable to target ads. I like it……….ipods are for posers.
Finally a site that is Fair and Balanced, Go Microsoft the real leader in MP3 Technology and Everything good in the world of Operating Systems, Game Machines and Software, Apple is a bunch of copy cats that continue to steal ideas from the creative genuises at Microsoft, the new Zunes will out sale the ipods 4 to 1 over the holidays and surpass Itunes with media downloads thru it’s new and easy to use Zune MarketPlace.
Clearly it is a metaphor for the ability to touch the “touch-pad”……this would in no way draw attention from the ipod, especially the touch…the zune has no web browsing!! haha…
so conclusion: don’t get a zune, it will not make you happy…it will make you you super sad…buy an iPod, they are waaaaaay better…
Only a total moron would think that this is some attempt at misleading people to think it is a touchscreen.
Who came up with this Bullshite notion anyway?
Wow. . . I’m surprised at the number of inflammatory comments here. Chris, the same thought crossed my mind as I watched the commercial for the first time today. I’m interested in picking up a Zune, and I enjoyed the commercial, but I do think that those who don’t follow the gadget blogs could easily mis-interpret this ad in today’s ever pervasive touch-screen media player market. And to everyone saying it’s obviously a metaphor – that’s fine. I think that’s what Microsoft will say, too, if anyone cries foul. But if you don’t believe that the way they crafted that metaphor wasn’t a carefully calculated marketing tactic, you’re not giving Microsoft enough credit. They know what they’re up against. . . they need to make their product looks as competitive as possible – and against the massive success of the iPhone and the iPod Touch, that may take a bit of trickery. It’s business – and probably a very smart move on Microsoft’s part. . . unless of course it pisses off consumers who feel mislead. Time will tell.
I wouldn’t have said this ad was confusing to people, it’s not like she is interacting with the screen elements, she is “touching” her media and getting immersed by it.
her touching the screen made me think of a message like (you can touch your music)… which is most likely the message they are trying to deliver since steve jobs said that about the iphones ipod interface.. and since jobs is apple… you know me-tosoft (microsoft)ft will copy it.
me-tosoft (microsoft) is not all that great with hardware… dont argue it since its a well known fact… anyway the hardware for zune 2 is not as hideous as zune 1 and even though it looks like the old line of ipods (kinda) its not an unattractive product.
The major problem with the zune is being tied to me-tosoft’s proprietary WMA format and bullshit DRM. Itunes format Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a standardized and may have apple DRM on it but its much more consumer oriented than the me-tosoft (microsoft) DRM which is more music industry corporations oriented. Its a me-tosoft (microsoft) scam to fold you into the me-tosoft (microsoft)cloth and never let you out.
oh and me-tosoft (microsoft) hater or not .. you have to agree that the zune marketing campaigns have sucked and looks like they will continue to suck.
I agree with you. I think its misleading cause I ended up searching to see if this was a touch screen from the commercial ad.
I wanted to make sure it wasnt cause when she touched the radio dial i was like, “Oh snap you can touch the screen too!!!”
Thanks for posting and yes.. they just trying to sell Zunes. I WANT ONE TOO!!!
ps… when i did a search for ZUNE TOUCH SCREEN.. i found your post… ;)
It’s pretty obvious this is an attempt to make it look like it has functionality that exists from touching the screen. Tech people may already know that this is something reserved for the iPod Touch, but typical consumers do not.
I know, because my fiance was all excited when she saw the commercial and came over to tell me that the Zune now has a touch screen!
I had to search the Net to find out if there was a new model available, only to find it was Microsoft hype again.
my computer is being stupid and not lettin me watch the video.
Im still confused.
I thought the Zune 30G wasnt a touch screen,but the 8G was.
if you thought it was touch screen from the video you are not very smart… it is not misleading or a microsoft scam it is a way to use visualizations to make people feel more into the music… and in no way trying to make people think its got a touch screen.
I’ve seen this commercial and never assumed it was a touch screen – interesting though that it might seem that way if the idea was put in your head –
BTW, I have a Zune 80 and LOVE it – recommend it to all my friends but that’s not to say that it’s for everyone, I guess there are some advantages to getting an ipod touch – but personally I could never ever go back to an ipod…
i agree with Robert Ipods r way overrated and r for posers
I so saw this commercial when it aired a while back and I in no way even thought about the screen being touch sensitive. It’s kind of an art form…the girl is just basically raped up in her media.
Besides that, the Zunes don’t even fall into the same mp3 “category” as the iPod touch. They fall into the category of the iPod Nano and the iPod Classic. If Microsoft felt the need to compete with the iPod touch, they would just make a touch sensitive Zune, not try and “trick” people into buying something there not going to get. They are not stupid. And although I think Apple is way ahead of Microsoft in newer markets, like phones and mp3 players, Microsoft still banks ten times that of Apple. And obviously Microsoft does not feel the need to compete with the iPod Touch or the iPhone so really, that’s there own damn business and people should quit stressing over what a company does or does not do.