Comments on: Microsoft does not comment on rumours or speculation

By: tom

tom — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 09:12:51 +0000

It’s a bit like what the situation with the Sony Walkman was in the 80’s. Heavyweights such as Aiwa came onto the market with their own versions but in the end most people ended up buying a Sony walkman… why? Because only a Sony Walkman was a Sony walkman…

I can’t see what Microsoft would be offering in their Zune that would be so fundamentally different to an iPod. My guess is Apple has done enough market research to have a vague idea as to what people really want/ need and what makes sense… if there was something else that could a) make the experience easier and b) sell more unit I am sure Apple would have already done it.

In my opinion the Xbox was successful because of Halo. The xbox wasn’t the killer products… Halo was the killer. I know quite a few people who bought the Xbox because of Halo.

I would agree with Palli… competition is great but WiFi won’t do the trick.

And what’s with the design of the Zune? If the images on the net are real I can only say come on Microsoft, you can do better than just blatently copying from your competitiors… or maybe they can’t.

By: Palli

Palli — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:36:50 +0000

Digital audio players are indeed widespread and people who want one have probably already bought it (and it most certainly is an iPod in most cases). If you fly in an airplane you will see a large percentage of the passangers with iPods. If you fly with an Icelandic airline, there will be at least 2-4 players on every seat row (yes, really!). There are many many other MP3 players available, but they just dont gain popularity as they’re simply not that cool. By owning an iPod you’re submitting to a sleak lifestyle.

I hope for Microsoft’s sake they can make their device a part of a cool new lifestyle.

In my eyes this market is closed and sealed, sadly, for competition’s sake.

By: Long Zheng

Long Zheng — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:17:18 +0000

Remember market share is relative. If you sold 3 players to 3 people buying digital audio players, then your market share is literally 100%. Currently, Apple’s market share is really high because there aren’t that many competitors and digital audio players sren’t as widespread as mobile phones for example. I think with their XBOX strategy working so well, they can’t fail launching consumer products.

By: Palli

Palli — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 07:34:56 +0000

I’m not sure the Zune will manage to kill the iPod as it has so much share in the market that it has hardly been seen before (like Microsoft has in the OS market maybe?). I do hope, however, that the Zune will keep Apple on their toes. There have been many who tried (but failed) to compete with the iPod. They better have something supercool to offer WiFi is very nice but that’s just not enough.

By: Zef

Zef — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 15:26:39 +0000

Also have a look at this post on Daring Fireball: http://daringfireball.net/2006/07/magic_8ball_zune