“Microsoft Corp., a colossus built on software, is making a new push in hardware manufacturing by building a factory in China to produce its Zune media player device,” John Letzing reports for MarketWatch.
Letzing reports, “The factory will produce a second iteration of the Zune, which has so far failed to impress in its effort to compete with Apple Inc.’s popular iPod.”
“The second iteration of Zune will include a number of different versions with varying prices and degrees of storage capacity, according to Jason Reindorp, Microsoft’s marketing director for Zune, although he declined to offer specifics. Web sites that follow the device have reported rumors that the newest versions of the Zune will be thinner and will include some smaller-capacity Flash-based players, similar to the popular iPod nano,” Letzing reports.
“Microsoft is also not disclosing the costs and timetable associated with the new factory. The company expects to have devices from the facility available sometime in the fall, Reindorp said,” Letzing reports.
“Gartner Inc. analyst Michael McGuire… cautioned that Microsoft faces big challenges in manufacturing the second version of the Zune. He says Apple’s iPod has benefited from manufacturing experience built up at the company during years of designing and manufacturing its personal computers and other products,” Letzing reports. “‘Keep in mind, Apple invested a lot over many years to get the expertise they have in-house,’ McGuire said.”
Full article here.
Microsoft’s Ballmer is obviously not satisfied with the amount of money being flushed down the toilet with this fiasco. Zune 2.0. While this’ll be fun for us, Microsoft shareholders really should light the torches, get out their pitchforks, and get marching.
Zune new poo two?
Keep in mind Apple has been a hardware company for a long time.. Keep in mind, no one is begging MS, the software company, to get into hardware. They have hardware partners already. No one outside the Thurrott household is asking for one of these things…
Zune 2.0 will have mult-touch display capable of playing movie and television downloads. All which can be bought online at their new iZune store for a reasonable price.
WOW – with vista and now with Zune 2!
In Zune New Poo Two, Squirts for Sure will be upgraded to Squirts for Certain, or maybe even Squirts for You Betcha.
Apple is taking no prisioneers this fall. Apple is going to reverse course in model simplicity, to some degree, this fall, and hit the market with an absolute onslaught of iPod video devices:
1. iPod video 40 GB: $199
2. iPod video 80 GB: $249
3. iPod video 100 GB: $299
4. iPod video 16 GB Flash: $299
5. iPod video 32 GB Flash: $349
Two chassis will exist.
– The hard drive-based 6g will all be the same thickness (roughly that of the current 30 GB version).
– The flash-based 6g will sport a design slighly thinner than the current iPod nano.
For the cost concious, doubling storage size for an extra $50 will up-sell those buyers to a $249 version. For the “gotta have it” ultra-cool buyer, an extra $50 for double the storage size into the $349 flash-based uber-thin iPod video will be the ticket.
New nano’s will also come storming in wiht impressive storage sizes and prices.
Apple is targeting the December Quarter of 30 million iPods to be sold World-Wide in the wake of this product launch.
Where does Zune fit? Zune looks to be a common Microsoft white elephant business Christmas party gift, but the lucky employee will wind up with the giant bag of peanut MnM’s.
I wonder if Green Peace will be giving MicroSoft any grief over all of these things going into landfills.
To simplify purchasing, the Zune 2.0 will not be available for any amount of money in any known currency. They will only be available for Microsoft points.
If insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. What then is doing more of the same with even greater intensity and frequency?
LOL. I never get tired of seeing that video.
their own factory… which means that they plan to price their device REALLY competitively.
The way this guy keeps dealing with dead products, he should change his name to Steve En-Ballmer.
Building a factory? How 20th century!
Contract manufacturers are where it is at now, at least until the product takes off. Bet that in a few years you will be able to buy this empty factory cheap!
Good on MS. When Zune 2 or 3 fails Apple will be able to get a factory in China on the cheap for producing a greater number of iPods & iPhones.
If Ballmer visits, won’t they have a bull in a China shop?
Microsoft, the only company in the world who can afford the strategy of losing hundreds of millions of dollars on a product until it “eventually” (if ever) starts to make a profit.
I wonder if it will look like an iPhone…
Rhetorical questions are fun!
It’s truly inspiring that a corporation as large as Microsoft can strive to make a product that sucks just a bit less than every effort they have ever tried.
Atta boy, Microsoft! Never say die! (It’s best to just do it without talking about it first.)
(two chinese M$ employees, working side by side, assembling Zunes)
Employee 1 : Wow ! I’m really proud to be working here !
Employee 2 : What, you like making Zunes ?
(silence)
Employee 1 : S**t, I thought we were making iPods …
“The second iteration of Zune will include a number of different versions with varying prices and degrees of…capacity
IOW, they Vistaed it.
“Microsoft is also not disclosing the costs and timetable associated with the new factory.
Well at least MS learned one lesson here. No timetable to “reschedule”.
Microsoft’s Ballmer is obviously not satisfied with the amount of money being flushed down the toilet with this fiasco.
And GO BALLMER GO!! The more resources you dump down holes, the better.
MW: DEAD.
@LorD 1776
‘I wonder if Green Peace will be giving MicroSoft any grief over all of these things going into landfills.’
I doubt it because there is very little space taken up by the two Zunes in the single landfiill site. But just in case, MS is going to have a big Zune dump in China….flushhhhhhh.
All of you idiots ridiculing the Zune 2.0 are forgetting one important fact.
It comes in brown.
Say no more. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.
Wouldn’t it be cheaper for M$ to just buy a mountain of $100 bills and set fire to it?
Classic example of throwing bad money after bad….
So no respectable American company would do it huh?
Throwing good money after bad.
Amazing that Microsoft would build its own plant instead of relying upon known manufacturers to build Zunes. Microsoft accountants must have decided that they could expand the Zune’s business loss by building a factory, taking the deductions, and then selling the factory (either profit or loss).
Wow. Nuff said.
Im in Australia. I didn’t even get to see Zune 1. Was it any good?
“If insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results. What then is doing more of the same with even greater intensity and frequency?”
The answer is: Deep, deep trouble.
Throwing more money at the problem just doesn’t solve it. Steve said it best when he said that if money spent on R&D was an indicator of quality products, then Microsoft would be the best.
By the way, those are huge knockers!
“Microsoft shareholders really should light the torches, get out their pitchforks, and get marching.”
Or sell the stock and buy Apple . . . just a thought
Once the first Zune is produced, the Chinese government will see the s**t brown product, declare war on the U.S., and do a mass invasion style landing in Puget sound.
Just my $0.02
I just Zuned myself.
“Once the first Zune is produced, the Chinese government will see the s**t brown product, declare war on the U.S., and do a mass invasion style landing in Puget sound”
Somebody wanna give me a heads up when this happens? I’d like to be out of town.
“Microsoft shareholders really should light the torches, get out their pitchforks, and get marching.”
And do it literally.
Remember the mob scenes from Young Frankenstein? Ballmer is locked in his position, both politically and physically. This would be the kind of revolt I’d like to see.
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Ever hear of second chances? Microsoft gave Apple a second chance in ’94 when they were about to go under….and lets face it, in a couple years the iPod is going under along with Apple just like the Sony Walkman tape players went under went CD players dominated the new market.
APPLE IS OVERLY EXPENSIVE AND SOON PEOPLE WILL REALIZE IT! WHY PAY FOR FREE BSD OS FROM APPLE WHEN IT IS JUST FREE ONLINE?! WE WON’T!!
“Once the first Zune is produced, the Chinese government will see the s**t brown product, declare war on the U.S., and do a mass invasion style landing in Puget sound”
Nah, they’d do nothing so dramatic.
Simply sending a couple more shiploads of poisoned food would be just as effective…
MarxMac84 = Asshat
WTF?
I mean, aren’t Zune factories called Waste Treatment Facilities?
Let’s review….
http://www.funnyordie.com/v1/view_video.php?viewkey=eee1462c82c6964087ff
@ TT
That was some funny bitches.
APPLE IS OVERLY EXPENSIVE AND SOON PEOPLE WILL REALIZE IT! WHY PAY FOR FREE BSD OS FROM APPLE WHEN IT IS JUST FREE ONLINE?! WE WON’T!!
Because OS X is more than just “Free BSD”. And yes, I will pay for it.
Pete: in answer to your question, No!
Notice ZuneTang is strangely silent……..
Zune has an issue in that we know what the new iPod will contain, due to seeing the iPhone.
Apple is going to leverage the iPhone touch technology and like components (NAND Flash memory, etc…) with an economy of scale that Redmond nor any other “competing” company will be able to deal with.
Zune 2 and the nano-like wanna-be will be MP3 players, that may be able to connect to Zune marketplace via wifi, in a new, nicer looking shell.
While this seems like products that could gain traction on the iPod, it will be laid to rest, in a manner they can’t see coming.
Apple’s iPod video’s (AKA iPod HD) with full-screen and touch abilities will simply rock the market place. The pricing will be amazingly agressive, and once again analysts and Wall St. will shake their head in how Apple could possibly expand sales at a 30%+ clip with the iPod lineup – even while the iPhone hits massive sales records.
If Redmond were smart (massive brain-drain) they would look to become the premire iPod component and periferal maker. They would also build some 3rd party software for the the iPod that could tap into their monthly fee movie store – with HD titles.
Apple would surely change their code breaking the M$ software, but M$ would counter and have their service back up in a few weeks again.
Basically, this is the AOL, ICQ type of game, and Apple can’t keep updating iTunes on customers every month, so eventually if Redmond could make getting HD movies onto the iPod via their monthly service – market it well – Apple may eventually need to work on a mutual deal with Redmond.
It is a long, long term move, but it wouldn’t cost the company massive losses like Zune, and if they can make a sole movie store really solid, with lots of HD titles for a monthly fee – that works with iPod, They may actually do something that makes them money…
I can rest comfortably that this will never happen
And I care about the Zune…. because?
The only cow pies I have ever cared about where when I was on survival training and we had to use dried ones for cooking fuel… not bad really – same colour brown, too.
“The Zune 2 – listen to it splat!!!” I can see a whole marketing campaign on that one.
Microsoft will continue to be the inferior choice to Apple, for design, quality, useability and above all taste.
But Microsoft has a HUGE problem today, it’s the iPod – iTunes party that has introduced 100’s of millions of people to GOOD taste, design, quality, useability and a hassle free (ie Microsoft free) experience.
And that, back to the subject, is why Microsoft is prepared to bet the business on stopping the iPod – iTunes – iPhone march…
And fat chance they have. They’d be more likely to succeed trying to re-refrigerate the Arctic.
Go Apple!
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Microsoft is not crazy enough to build an entire new factory just to produce a Zune 2.0
Sales to date clearly show that by the end of 2007, they will need production capacity for another 2 Zunes.
Two reasons why Microsoft might have a Zune factory:
1. Zune sales are booming at last, after six months and one day. (And I’ve still never seen a Zune up close. That can’t be right.)
3. Committing a sort of suicide with their billions and billions.
2. They plan a big wave of Zune advertisement to make the sales boom. (If so, then will they hand free Zunes to the people in the commericials? And will those count as “sales” or something?)
Oops, sorry about that number three.
MW: program … I did that with my Zune so it would play songs at all.
Perhaps this factory should also produce tossable chairs.
Microsoft can make ’em cheaper, but Microsoft can’t make ’em any better. Don’t be surprised if Microsoft offers these new Chinese Zunes as prizes in boxes of processed breakfast cereals.
When you are getting beat 76 to 2, it is time to save and rest whatever resources you have left and put in your second and third string. This move just shows the ignorance of this company, having already seen the potential of the iPod back in January. Know when to punt! The cube was an awesome product, but Steve knew when to punt.
Apple ate it and directed their efforts toward the iPod. This move will go down in history books.
Silent? Hardly. Buster and I have been lobbying Microsoft for a Zune specific plant since the first super awesome Zune was released. Like so many of our peers we recognized the potential in Zune 1.0. The nifty innovation and limitless possibilities we know are coming in Zune 2.0 led us to guide and ensure Microsoft can meet the staggering demand for the Zune II which Apple will be chasing for years to come. Bravo, Microsoft and Buster!
Your potential. Our passion.™
Actually, I think the Zune’s slogan should be :
Your Music. Our DRM.
@ maczealot
“Don’t be surprised if Microsoft offers these new Chinese Zunes as prizes in boxes of processed breakfast cereals.”
Not too far from the truth, actually. I still have, sitting on my desk at home, a little handheld game that came in a box of Apple Jacks. It’s one of those crappy digital-watch type black LCD games in a little plastic case. Molded proudly into said case is the word… “XBOX”.
Won’t be long before Windows will come to us via a mini-disc stuck to the bottom of Slurpees.
-c
MW: ‘fall’
“Bravo, Microsoft and Buster!”
Buster, have you been sleeping with the enema?
Ow.
TRANSLATION ISSUE!
What’s actually happening is that Microsoft is Building a factory in China out of Zunes. They have to have some use.
Wow, they are building a factory to begin building Zune #20? I didn’t know that they had already sold 19 of ’em…
The only plants you need to make Zune 2.0 are – beans.
Microsoft gave Apple a second chance in ’94 when they were about to go under
Just returning the favor. Apple saved MS’s ass in the 80’s when they licensed Basic from them.
“The second iteration of Zune will include a number of different versions with varying prices and degrees of storage capacity”
YES! I can’t wait for:
Zune Home Basic Starter Edition
Zune Media Center Sync Edition
Zune Home Premium Player Edition
Zune Business (with a plastic keyboard! very important!)
Zune Ultimate (weighs 10 pounds, costs 800 dollars)
And let’s not forget the $3 Zune For Countries in Poverty Edition
Anyone seen the Utube Video?
That is not funny! I actually find the Mr Ballmer lovable & Huggable, he knows who butters his bread & will therefor not bite that hand.
Give him credit for that. He didn’t start M$you know! & in any case, we need him so that SJ can look even better!
So Ballmer’s uncle will squirt from his Zune 1.0 to his Zune 2.0?