“In what appears to be a serious mistake by retail giant Wal-Mart, the company posted a price for Microsoft’s recently announced 30-gigabyte media player, Zune, at $284.00 on its Web site… As reports began surfacing on the Web, the company quickly moved to take the item down… ‘This price was incorrectly and inadvertently listed at Walmart.com,’ said Amy Colella, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart,” ABC News reports.
ABC News reports, “If that price holds up, the player would fall in line with similar products from Apple and Creative. Apple’s 30-gigabyte iPod, for example, retails for around $300.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lee” for the heads up.]
Sheesh. 15 seconds and 3 clicks is all it takes to get it right: Apple’s 30GB iPod retails for US$249 (the 80GB iPod is $349). You’d think Disney’s ABC would be able to get it right, wouldn’t you?
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Price isn’t the issue with Zune, the issue is with the Christmas season coming up, gift buyers face a choice: A crying child/pissed teenager if they buy them something that isn’t an iPod. How is Zune going to compete?
hahaha, “around $300” is some pretty fuzzy/creative journalism…
the Zune is going to be lucky to gain any traction at all. i has one hell of an uphill fight. name recognition, cool factor, shopping experience, sheer weight of numbers… and the color brown. yeah, that’ll have ’em flocking to the stores….
$249 is around $300 in the same way that San Diego is Around Los Angeles. (if the viewer is in some distant galaxy or alternate dimension)
mw: fiscal – as in fiscally inept.
$249, $300, what’s the difference, right?
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meant to say…
it has one hell of an uphill fight.
Last year I saw first hand how big stores like Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA were pushing the other brands of players due to running low on ipod product stock, higher profit margins on the other crap, and/or so they would not have to sit on left over “other” brands at the end of the holiday season. Watching some familys get rooked by these guys was painful. Even hearing the ppl say “well my daughter really wanted a ipod, but yeah, that sandisk is 50 dollars less, and it plays music still….and she has a windows machine, so it’s guaranted to work right?” and the salesman would just nod and lead them on. (or would pass FUD on how ipods only work on macs, limit your choices of music stores, etc) … course I had to do my good deed and wait for the sales guy to leave to simply state the ipod was a better product, more accessories that your daughter would love, clear up the FUD issues, and if she asked specifically for an ipod by name buying her that other player would be like buying her a hampster when she wanted a puppy. They didn’t know anything about the hardware/software thingie doodads but agreed if she stated a brand that they really should stick to that. That kid must have been pretty happy last xmas cause they decided for 50 dollars more then the nano (100 bux more then the sandisk they were looking at) to get her a 30 gig video ipod.
FUD should be hunting wabbits, not making children cry on xmas.
Walmart… A mistake? Not hardly!
Bet MS is in on the release. They are the past masters of FUD!
Note how much MS leakes to create buzz for a turkey. The bigger the turkey the bigger the leak! Look at the died at the starting gate UMPC or what ever it name was. That over price mid year turkey they cooked up.
WOnder if that perso that did it now has a job at MS!
I dunno, recently our CompUsa announced closing sale.
All ipods CLEANED Out.
The rest of the MP3 players sat there looking loke dopes.
“Pick me”.
$284 for that big brown brick of shit.
Ha Ha Ha.
Frankly, I hope tons and tons of parents buy a Zune for their kids this Christmas. After their kids return the unwanted device they can buy a nano and some iPod accessories with the overage.
Mark my words, THAT is exactly what will happen.
Walmart and Zune, the perfect combination
There WILL be an initial backlash against Apple. I’ve read on numerous (non-Apple) websites, threads that people are glad to see Zune and are looking forward to ditching their iPods (seriously). The funny thing is the most common arguement I’ve seen against Apple is that they “lock you in” to the iPod and iTunes. These people are in for a rude awakening with Zune.
Our culture tends to favor the “underdog” and supports them, roots for them, etc. Once they do become “top” dog, we then tear them down. Apple is king of the hill. Expect initial backlash and rooting for Zune – until people actually have to use it that is.
Peace.
Usually Right – yep our CompUSA quickly sold out of iPods (while they were only 10% off – that’s when my wife and I purchased our MacBooks too). The other “Me Too’s”
still have plenty of players left in stock. Apple software is now 25% off. The only Apple computers they have left in stock are the floor models and brand new MacBook Pro’s. Rumor is that they’re going to be brining in additional merchandise from other stores. On the other hand, that practice is supposedly illegal in NY. Who knows?
Peace.
I’m thinking that $284 was the price of the Zune before Apple announced that the new 30GB iPod is now just $249. Now Microsoft has to decide if they want to lose even more money on the Zune.
Lock you in? How does apple lock you in? It’s the most versitile player on the market! If it locks you in then how come you can use iTunes to rip your music on so many different formats? Fraetur full? Yes. Let’s face it, the only people that are going to buy Zune players are people that are too stupid to undersatnd how much better Apple has done on thier players. Oh, and I’d like the brown Zune player please! BROWN, are you out of your mind. This is the typical MicroMove that has always been expected…
Zune is the new lump of coal.
CompUSA is up for sale and the rumor is Apple is dropping them for Circuit City.
yeah if you squeeze it really really hard it turns into a diamond. but you need to squeeze the shit out of it. if you did that, there would be no place to plug in the earbuds…
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I just got my first iPod last week along with a MacBook.
I’m a happy man. Especially since I gave the iPod to my
wife. Now she’s happy and when she’s happy, I’m happy.
The Zune is doomed. Last Christmas my brother bought
my niece an iPod, only it wasn’t the one she wanted. She
cried! A 17 year old! So her parents took it back and
exchanged it for the one she wanted. Now I can’t imagine
what might happen if a kid wants an iPod and gets a
Zune instead.
“Sheesh. 15 seconds and 3 clicks is all it takes to get it right…”
I can guarantee that before the end of the week I will get at least one store catalog or advert in the mail that will have the 30 GB iPod for $299. It would be a simple mistake to make. (Plus, the old $299 30 GB iPods are still in stores. They aren’t any cheaper since the announcement.)
“You’d think Disney’s ABC would be able to get it right, wouldn’t you?”
Of course, when someone joins the board of the parent company of the network you work for, you automatically become obsessed with every detail of the other companies they are involved with. It’s just like how everyone who works for Filemaker knows the prices of every Intuit product.
‘Zune battery life: 12 hours music, 3.5 hours video… with wireless OFF’ according to engadget.
‘Compare that to the 30GB iPod’s 14/4 hours and the 80GB iPod’s 20/6 hours.’
http://www.engadget.com
Backlash against Apple… rooting for the underdog.
You know, that might happen, except the “underdog” in this case is Microsoft. So it’s not going to happen. Microsoft will never be seen as the underdog. It’s the company most people love to hate and ridicule. In fact, even now, Apple will be seen as the underdog knocking down giant Microsoft.
Do not underestimate the synergy between Zune and X-Box.
(And I am waiting for the Microsoft product starting with “Y”, so they can offer products “X,Y,Z” for the complete experience.)
Y-erless?
Actually, RadioShack has the old iPods cheaper. I got a new nano (mine just bit the dust) for 219 (the last one in my store). Which works great for me, since I have the old nano lanyard which won’t work with the new ones, and I think the new ones are ugly (except the silver and black). If I waited for Bestbuy to stop givig me the run around and let me use my replacement plan, I would have to get a video which is great, but I wouldn’t be able to wear it all day like I do now. And a bonus – I never have to deal with the evil that is Best Buy again except to pick up dvds etc for presents with the stupid gift card if they ever send it to me.