The Motley Fool’s Rick Aristotle Munarriz today suggests “a mercy killing for the Zune.”
Munarriz asks, “Now that even GameStop is getting out of the Zune-selling business, isn’t it just a matter of time before the player itself becomes a museum piece?”
GameStop may not seem like an apt yardstick for the Zune’s fortunes, but consider this:
• GameStop sells a ton of Xbox 360 systems and games, so it’s a hotbed of Microsoft fans.
• The chain proudly sells used games and gear. If a company would rather stock dusty copies of Madden ’06 than a Zune, what does that tell you?
• The company noted during yesterday’s conference call that gross margins on the hardware side slid this past quarter, based on the move to discontinue Zunes. If Zunes are doing so poorly that GameStop would rather be moving hardware with lower margins, they must have really been collecting dust.
• With stand-alone CD shops disappearing, GameStop is a good retail gauge of the pulse of music-loving youth.
Munarriz writes, “Apple is looking to move five times as many of its pricey iPhones this year than all the Zunes Microsoft has sold to date… I get why Microsoft wants to bury the iPod. The player’s success created a halo effect, winning over Mac converts. They’re using Mac’s operating system over Windows, surfing on Safari instead of Explorer, and not necessarily relying on Microsoft Office, even though it’s popular and available for the Mac.”
“Unfortunately, there comes a point when persistence becomes embarrassment… When you’ve worn out your welcome with small-box GameStop shops and their audience of Xbox fanboys, it’s probably time for a change of Zunery,” Munarriz explains.
More fun in the full article here.
CNBC’s Jim Goldman, interviewed Steve Jobs back in January: “I told Jobs that I had sat down with Microsoft’s Robbie Bach last week at the Consumer Electronics Show. I mentioned that Bach was particularly optimistic about the new Zune, that it was now a worthy alternative to Apple’s iPod. Asked Jobs: ‘Was he inebriated? Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?'”
good points..ouch. MS has already ditched Plays for sure. If they kill Zune, how do you save face.
Zune is init for the long haul, any sales are good sales.
Well, that’s easy to see. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to notice they’ve omitted solitaire! Who wants this thing?
No face for Ballmer to save. As they would say it back home, his face is as hard as a sole of his shoe.
Any guesses when Zune plug would be pulled? Does anyone here believe they would actually pull the plug at all anytime soon? They just might be stubbornly willing to bleed money on this, trying to prove some point somewhere. That, in fact, might be the best; let them keep shifting their focus from (money losing) X-Box, to (money-losing) Zune, to (money-losing) Yahoo acquisition plans… That way, their next effort at OS will be even greater success than Vista!
it was DOA anyway. I’m still shocked they sold 2 million of them.
Oh the humanity!
MS has ben criticized for the upcoming shut down the PlayedForSure servers. How long would they leave the servers up for those zuckers who got zuned?
From the article:
Even Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry Bold smartphone syncs up to Apple’s iTunes, further entrenching Apple as the digital-delivery standard.
True? False? Anyone else know of this?
The real question is this: How many Zunes are actually loaded with music, and in use?
I’ve never seen one in the wild.
Not one.
I disagree!
MSFT should persist with Zune and not give in to the realities of the market.
This is based on the same philosophy that says that the omelette-dodging Ballmer should stay on as CEO for as long as possible.
This is a bad forum to post this query since there’s a tendency to mindlessly bash Microsoft no matter what. But honestly, what was Microsoft thinking of?
When the Zune came out it was almost like they went out of their way to throw up barriers to it’s success like using a point system and reducing the number of songs that could play on it by making it incompatible with PlaysForSure (Irony, thy name be PlaysForSure).
But more importantly, how could they think that the Zune would be successful when all they were doing was copying the last generation iPod and setting up their own incompatible version of iTunes? Microsoft has a lot of smart people. But the first thing you do in creating a product is to create points of differentiation from your competitors product. They just copied the iPod – an older iPod at that – and thought that people would flock to them because they were Microsoft? Are they that myopic?
Once again, a decade from now, college marketing classes will have the one day “How not to make a ZUNE mistake”, they will explain to all the fresh faces how MS made the biggest marketing/product mistake in many many years.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha!
Just desserts for all the MS early years when they put so many small companies out of business by stealing their software ideas.
The Motley Fool article says “Even Research In Motion’s new BlackBerry Bold smartphone syncs up to Apple’s iTunes, further entrenching Apple as the digital-delivery standard.”
Is this true? Could not find any firm evidence of this, and it seems like it would have been HUGE news . . .
@ Falkirk
You asked about M$, “are they that myopic?”
YES. Why else would they think that Vista would generate a good version of “Wow”?
I think we are witnessing thousands of M$ employees in denial. (and a lot of journalists and IT guys, too.)
Can you breathe with your head in the sand like that?
What would be more relevant is how many actually were sold to end-users. MS shipped 2 million to the distributors, but from all the articles I’ve read, there aren’t many people who actually admit to purchasing one.
“Unfortunately, there comes a point when persistence becomes embarrassment”
Somebody should tell Hillary that.
“,,,there’s a tendency to mindlessly bash Microsoft…”
Not true. We indeed think about it when we bash them. I think you are thinking more about the frequency which in itself speaks volumes about MS.
I’m always very mindful of my Microsoft bashing.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=blackberry+bold+itunes&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
MS chairman Steve B.Lamer is sure to fault the third party devs for their lack of support … because we all know any Windows based products have that “WOW” factor (as in … Wow! This is total crap!).
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” /> I mean, just look at their sales … nobody buys an Xbox for the latest game, and consumers buy cheap PCs because they love Windows … right?
WOW =
Wheedling Old Wankers
We Oughtta Wait
Worthless Old Wares
“Was he inebriated? Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?”
That quote always makes me laugh.
Actually, couple this with the news earlier that they are exploring ads with the Zune, and you can see what the next Zune will be. Free access to 6 million songs (though you have to suffer ads). That is where they are going with the Zune.
@ Predrag
Here is my original prediction, as posted on my blog:
======================================
Zuned!!!
Post: 2006-11-15 07:42:49, Modified: 2006-11-22 07:10:35
So… I might have been a little hasty on my Zune prediction.
Microsoft launched Zune yesterday, and the reviews just keep pouring in. The consensus?
IT STINKS!
So when I said 18 months, I think I was being a little generous. I wonder if they sold a single unit yesterday.
Still, Microsoft never seems to know when they`re beaten, OR when they`re winning. So maybe they`ll dump money into this revenue vaccum until it becomes embarassing even for them (and it must take a lot to embarass Steve Ballmer).
I guess for now I`ll stick with 18 months from launch date (yesterday, November 14th 2006) so that would be roughly May, 2008.
Will it last that long?
Time will tell.
-c
So here we are in May 2008, and the iPod Killer has sold all of 2 million units. How much longer can it last? I don’t underestimate the power of Microsoft’s ability to stubbornly refuse defeat. I’m sure in their minds they’ve won a victory, based on a drastically downsized objective (“solid #2”) but then, they don’t even have that.
It looks like they might last a little longer, but I don’t think Zune Tang should put away his hammer just yet.
-c
Writes Think, “a decade from now, college marketing classes will have the one day “How not to make a ZUNE mistake”” It reminds me of a Simpsons episode where a series of buffoonish, clumsy actions by our favorite dolt each somehow succeeded. It was popularly called “pulling a Homer”. Given Microsoft’s serial failures, maybe it’ll come to be known as “pulling a Zune”.
Jobs: “Was he inebriated? Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?” Sun’s McNealy was known for his Microsoft bashing, but it rarely stuck. Jobs remarks stick because we recognize them as the distilled truth, and because Steve has cred.
I’d love to see that interview with Ballmer where he brags about zune sales and laughs about the iPhone. Stupid prick.
No hammer will be necessary, ChrissyOne, unless you’re talking about putting your crappy I-Phone out of its misery. I’ve enjoyed every minute of the magnificent Zune ride for the past 18 months, thank you, and it keeps getting better. Who saw Microsoft implementing ads on the Zune? Nobody. Another revolutionary innovation from the masters in Redmond. I can’t wait to see what’s next.
I have FM, squirting, points, ads, and brown. How about you I-Pod lemmings? No? How does it feel for you I-Pod losers to get your ass kicked every day by Zune?
Your potential. Our passion.™
Microsoft is long past any possibility of saving face, and they have much bigger problems than the fate of the Zune. For starters, there’s Vista. All that’s saving Microsoft from dying of embarrassment is arrogance and greed.
This is one of those moments in history when one can’t help recalling the story of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” How many times does Microsoft have to stumble and fart before anyone (in the mainstream, that is) dares to notice?