iPod Zune sales -- hit or flop?

[Virtualball]

The BIG downfall of the Zune is the advertisement. They coppied everything else from the iPod, so why not the advertisement? They did and that is the main problem. The iPod's ads are all self-centered and arrogant, the point behind them is basically showing off that they don't need to advertise what it does but only what it is. The Zune took this concept and just showed a concert and said "Zune." The problem is that Apple built up a staple and since it is just that, they don't need to really say what it is, now, Microsoft has built up no market share or news with the Zune and they are already taking that approach.

Advertisment is key and obviously Microsoft is in over it's head.

 

[dongmin]

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere on the forums - but even CNN is giving the Zune a hard time:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/pla...orkin.minding.your.business.cnn&wm=native_mac

(I love the hostess pulling out her new shuffle and then asking why she would want something so big)

Funny segment. I like the last bits:

Host 1: Why don't they get some decent design people to make things look better?

Journalist: [heavy sigh]

Host 1: It's clunky, it's clunky...

Journalist: [heavy sigh again] No comment...

Host 2: [laughs in the background]

 

[mannix87]

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere on the forums - but even CNN is giving the Zune a hard time:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/pla...orkin.minding.your.business.cnn&wm=native_mac

(I love the hostess pulling out her new shuffle and then asking why she would want something so big)

that's just hilarious.

 

[nsbio]

Cannot tell yet, wait until Jan. 1st to make the judgement.

Sales may pick up for Christmas

.

Yeah, Bill Gates giving a Zune Christmas gift to each of his employees

 

[sushi]

Except iPod 7 will be better but we'll start hitting an alternate system:

iPod 1.0 Excellent, nothing else like it

<snip>

iPod X.5 puts Zune Vista on the mat in one punch.

That was good!

 

[ezekielrage_99]

Really? Where'd you hear that? Link, please?

I heard it from a friend who is a marketing manager for M$ in Australia. What he said was that inorder for the DRM to work and "track" what the users are doing the Zune needs some sort of rootkit in the hardware.

Personally it doesn't surprise me because Sony had rootkit on their laptops for a good 2 years before Sony fessed up to it.

 

[MatthewCobb]

that's just hilarious.

Indeed. A hoot. How much for the Shuffle product placement?

Microsoft Bob was new to me, and he looks pretty funny too. Mind you, I bet there are MS Nerds who fire up Bob, swap plug-ins and all the rest of it. Looks like he has real kitsch appeal. Anyone tried running Bob on an Intel Mac?

 

[Agathon]

Looking at Amazon's sales today, I wonder what's happening.

1. Black 30GB iPod
3. Silver 2GB Nano
4. Black 80GB iPod
5. Sandisk 2GB
6. Pink Nano
8. Black Nano
16. iPod Shuffle
29. Black Zune

Perhaps it is tanking. I would have thought more people would be buying it in its first week. Having said that, I would have thought that more people were buying the new Shuffles, but it is only selling slightly more than the Zune.

On the other hand, you can buy a shuffle almost anywhere, and its pretty cheap, so the Amazon discounts matter less. I can walk 10 minutes from my apartment to buy a Shuffle if I want one (or any of the others – the local digicam shop sells them).

 

[ghall]

Someone needs to start a smashmyzune.com. I'd definitaly donate.

EDIT: Already been done.

 

[dongmin]

Zune 1.0 = Flop
Zune 3.1 will crush all comers

Maybe by 2.0, M$ will actually design their own hardware instead of rebranding a toshiba Gigabeat.

Apple has a 5-year lead on software, hardware design, marketing, and component deals, not to mention a loyal user base and general public obsession with all things ipod. I think it'll take more than a three iterations for the Zune to compete.

 

[clevin]

just bought one, and gave to my friend as a gift
zune doesn't support osx, it plays mp3, wma/wmv, has radio and wi-fi, larger screen, and it does feel good in hand

 

[Virtualball]

just bought one

Well, someone had too.

 

[aricher]

just bought one, and gave to my friend as a gift

And they're still your friend?

My 9 year old nephew wants an iPod for Christmas. His mom asked if he would rather have a Zune. He said "nobody wants a Zune - those suck." Apparently even the grade schoolers are talking about it.

 

[Project]

I dont know about the Rootkit issue, but every track you "share" is tied to your ZuneTag, which when synced sends this information directly to Microsoft.

Dotn think I would want to be sharing stuff I have bootlegged a couple of weeks before an official album release, lol.

 

[backsidetailsli]

No one's even asked about it at RadioShack where I work. There's two of us that are big Mac guys anyways, and the others we've mostly convinced that the iPods are by far the best, so it's unlikely we'll convince anyone to go for it. Add that to the fact that we don't have them in stock, and you have a recipe for a total flop as far as our store in concerned.

Yes, I'm happy about it.

jW

lol doin us prod,
word

 

[clevin]

And they're still your friend?

My 9 year old nephew wants an iPod for Christmas. His mom asked if he would rather have a Zune. He said "nobody wants a Zune - those suck." Apparently even the grade schoolers are talking about it.

lol, get real, its a freakin music player, don't judge too much before you even try it.

 

[clevin]

Well, someone had too.

yeah, its hard, local microcenter only have 2 or 3 machine, really not many choice about color.

 

[cheeselover3]

Zune sales looking bad

We received only 4 Zunes at my work place. Only sold 1 so far, to a grade schooler, and it was returned unopened the next day!!

 

[Chundles]

Maybe by 2.0, M$ will actually design their own hardware instead of rebranding a toshiba Gigabeat.

Apple has a 5-year lead on software, hardware design, marketing, and component deals, not to mention a loyal user base and general public obsession with all things ipod. I think it'll take more than a three iterations for the Zune to compete.

You do realise that whole post was a p*ss-take don't you?

 

[Xeem]

Don't know if this has been posted elsewhere on the forums - but even CNN is giving the Zune a hard time:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/pla...orkin.minding.your.business.cnn&wm=native_mac

(I love the hostess pulling out her new shuffle and then asking why she would want something so big)

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at something on CNN. I was even tempted to put the link in my signature!

 

[mduser63]

According to this article, Zune sales haven't really been to good so far. I saw them at Best Buy and wasn't too impressed. I saw one "in the wild" yesterday. Somebody had one at school, although it was just sitting in a case on a table, so I'm not sure who owned it. Otherwise I would have asked to check it out.

My dad asked me out of the blue about them today (he has a shuffle and an iPod video), and I basically just told him that it's typical MS garbage, which he had kind of assumed. He doesn't really like Apple and the iPod, but he doesn't like MS either. Anyway, my dad is not exactly "into" gadgets, but he had heard of the Zune somewhere, so it's not like there's no coverage/advertisement.

 

[zim]

Did anyone see the new section on Saturday Night Live? They did a bit that went something like this...

Microsoft released the zune. zune, as in hey your zune isn't as cool as my iPod

 

[MegaSignal]

Did anyone see the new section on Saturday Night Live? They did a bit that went something like this...

Microsoft released the zune. zune, as in hey your zune isn't as cool as my iPod

Looking forward to it on YouTube.

 

[sushi]

My 9 year old nephew wants an iPod for Christmas. His mom asked if he would rather have a Zune. He said "nobody wants a Zune - those suck."

Kids...they always seem to have a way of saying the truth!

 

[Ashims]

I have to say... I'm almost so interested in how bad this sounds that I might pick one up just to experience it for myself.