Comments on: Zune Beats iPod: How Apple Can Learn from Microsoft’s Success

By: Edward Woods

Edward Woods — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:54:22 +0000

At a school cafeteria I saw a sign that said "No iPods and no Gameboys". Nothing about a Zune or PSP. Hmmmmmmm.

By: Angie

Angie — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:39:46 +0000

You people crack me up. Apple's big problem has always been that they won't realease something until it's perfection. Prototype, prototype, prototype, so then other people keep beating them to the punch. MS's big problem has always been they rush production just to get something into our hands whether it works or not. The iPod is an example of how Apple used MS methods to create a success. Why does everyone hate MS? They have the best software, always have (I can hear the groans), whether you like their methods or not, most of you are using them The early iPods were junk, everyone knows it. Most of them were literally thrown in the trash, because they were also unfixable. But the later iPods are awesome. So they rushed the product to market (like MS), but they kept at it until they achieved perfection, and now the iPod is an icon for this generation of music lovers. From a marketing standpoint, they are cool, so the kids buy them. Come on, hasn't everyone seen the Target commercials with the iPods hanging on the etheric outlines of all the beautiful people's necks, it's BONO for God's sake, who could resist? Free enterprise is a beautiful thing.

By: Ian Bell

Ian Bell — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 10:22:22 +0000

I want to point out that the last 4 posts are from the same person using different names. Clearly he has not read the article otherwise he would have caught the tongue-in-cheek tone to it. Clearly Rob is saying that the Zune failed big time here…

By: guantar

guantar — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 20:21:32 +0000

Zune is a failure. It is crap and everyone smells it. In the last year it was out it didn't even sell half a mill, while apple sold 39 million ipods in the the last year.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/16177938.htm“ title=”http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/16177938.htm“ target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/busines…

There are plenty of zunes sitting on shelves, especially the brown ones and no one wants them. This discussion is over except for microsoft fanboys with secret buyers remorse.

By: davey

davey — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 20:03:38 +0000

video on a zune looks much worse than on an ipod. The screens an both are the same resolution but the larger Zune screen makes the video blocky. The slightly smaller and way brighter ipod screen has a crispness that the zune cant match. Also for video the ipod (80GB) holds 2 and a half times as much as a soon for $80 more (street).
Zune sucks, it is a dismal failure and the only people hyping it up on boards are paid by microsloth. Beware.

By: Laughing at "Laughing at morons"

Laughing at "Laughing at morons" — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 11:56:00 +0000

Why would anyone compare the Zune with the first gen ipod? It is 2007 :) MS had nothing to do for 5 years but watch and learn as Apple created and developed a truly innovative product into a cultural icon. And M$ didn't learn a thing. It still rushes second rate, over priced, dated garbage to market before it is in working order.

on a side note: I was in Target the other day and 2 kids where playing with a brown zune and they kept calling it the "****box 360", it was funny as hell but I think it tells you a lot about how young people are embracing this abomination.

And Apples will ship with bootcamp so creative people can keep their macs at work and still get on with you corporate weasels.

By: Laughing at morons

Laughing at morons — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:37:18 +0000

You mac weenies are a riot. With all of you out in force raving about how bad the Zune is, even though it's obvious you've never even been in the same room with one, it just confirms that you are scared to death the only halfway decent thing apple has ever made will also go the way of the mac (obsolete junk).

If you compare the Zune to the first ipod, Microsoft has done a stellar job (as in it actually works as edvertised).

While I would agree that the Zune market place is lame, the itunes marketplace is just as lame. DRM is Lame and if you buy DRM music YOU are also lame. There are (legal) DRM free services where you could buy music and if you don't want to do that you could always buy a CD and rip that.

As for the Zune. It's great. The video looks awesome, the music plays as expected (great)and the headphones are not that bad. In fact, I picked up a set of sony headphones and went back to the zune ones, because they sounded better and were more comfortable. Now that there is a hack to allow you to use the Zune as a harddrive, there is nothing left for me to complain about.

What's really going to be funny is when apple starts to ship their macs with Windows installed. Why else would they spend so much time on bootcamp.

By: Me

Me — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 23:22:00 +0000

Yep, this thing is so bad that I bought one, then bought a bunch of accesories for it. Now I recommending that all my friends buy one over an ipod. I mean, really, this is obviously a heap. It looks good, it does everything it says it would, it's near impossible to scratch. and it doesn't require iTunes. Yep, what a heap.

By: Paul Greatbatch

Paul Greatbatch — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 21:26:20 +0000

So much money, so little creativity.

Why did they feel the need to even get into this business? What Gatesian or Ballmerian ego pushed this? And why would they think that people were going to line up for the 'social' in the same way they would a PS3?

The only way they have succeeded in the Windows and Office arenas is to maintain an illegal monopoly and count on the global apathy of corporate IT managers to change for the better.

By: Daniel Miller

Daniel Miller — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 13:59:21 +0000

I agree with dw, that microsoft will be back. I don't think the original Xbox was that big of a hit, especially in Japan, but MS stuck with it and I think it paid off in the end.

The Zune is such a HUGE failure though, I really hope some people are fired over there because of it. They can't take advantage of consumers like that, we are just not that stupid!

By: dw

dw — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 07:21:14 +0000

You forgot:

Apple's Cube and Newton giving MS a run for their money.

anyhoo, MS will be back. I'll never buy MS products simply because of their iconic stature for corporate corruption, greed and bureaucratic bungling of products.

If I didn't have the choice of Apple I'd probably look to Sandisk or creative for a player.
MS will redesign this thing and it will be improved. Don't think it will out sell sandisk, they are suprisingly doing well with over 10% market share.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 06:12:40 +0000

I had to read this article three times to figure out that it was all tongue in cheek!

But Rob is right. It makes you wonder how Windows got to be as big as it is. I think MS succeeded more because Apple took some missteps back in the 1990s than any other reason, but that's another story and debate. As for the Zune, I think it will be so embarrassing in 6 months that MS will pretend it never happened. It is so bad on so many levels that I don't foresee a 2nd and 3rd rveision of Zune. Sure, MS has moeny to throw at bad products, but shareholders want a stock that is rising. MS has been flat for over a year. And the “success” of the XBox is not really a success. From everything I have read it loses money. Can't a multi-billion dollar tech company create their own product that is new and exciting? Why is this so hard? There is NOTHING compelling about the Zune. It is a feature-less MP3 player that doesn't work with previous purchased downloads, has a wireless capability that doesn't work because no one else is going to buy one, doesn't play video and it doesn't work with Vista (a crime in itself). What were they thinking? I am starting to believe MS only gets into markets because they don't want to feel left out. There is no other reason for it. When will they realize they are not hip or cool, and that everyone knows it but themselves.

By: matt

matt — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 18:42:40 +0000

I just got my hands on a Zune today my friend bought( no way would I admit I bought one), after playing around on it for a while, I found out a couple of things. The screen is bright, but it's the same resolution as the smaller i-pod screen. The sharing ability is worthless. If I was prepared to buy a song, but wanted to hear it fully beforehand, then fine, but on itunes I can get a free preview already. I hate the fact that Microsoft makes me buy blocks of credit instead of buying one song at a time. Think off all the people dumping money into the Zune Marketplace and not using it right away as Microsoft makes millions on the interest alone. I think what must have happened is that Microsoft was pressured to put the Zune on the market before the holidays by the major music media companies that have power and influence over these things. If Microsoft would have put more time, creativity etc into this and made it more consumer friendly, I think it could have held a chance at survival. It appears their only hope will be a 2nd Gen Zune, or some major software changes from all the bad reviews and complaints that are being written. I'll stick with my i-Pod for now. Great article Rob.

By: Kirasaw

Kirasaw — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 13:05:59 +0000

OMG an article by Rob Enderle I actually agree with! The Zunes most talked about feature that was going to “kill” the iPod – wifi sharing is so restrictive that nobody will use it even if they could find another Zune to connect to, and it is also the one part that I feel is most likely to cause great public concern. I saw another post someplace about the possible use by pedophiles to wifi kids porn pictures of themselves labeled “Britney Spears Concert photos” or some such hot teen topic. And of course this Zune Marketplace that totally screws all those companies MS talked into using “Plays for Sure” is the hight of arrogance only a monopoly like MS could get away with.

MS needs to stick with software. They really can't even get that right how do they think they can do hardware and software? I mean who do these guys think they are Apple or something!!

By: Chris K

Chris K — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 12:29:39 +0000

Just imagine the tears in your kid's eyes this holiday season if you “surprise” them with a Zune instead of an iPod. That's the kind of hurt the kids never forget!

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:44:30 +0000

Microsoft, as usual, will probably go through a few revisions of the product before it's really good. They can afford to do this because of the stream of profits they enjoy coming from MSN and Xbox.

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:26:05 +0000

First of all great article.

I feel that Microsoft need to put more work into the design team on their products.

The Nintendo DS lite is an example to how the design can turn sales into a frenzy.

The Zune looks good I think its a bit to bulky. If they could have made it smaller with a high resolution screen then prehaps it will be a seller.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 13:46:23 +0000

Think about how much money Microsoft threw away promoting this brick?

By: Ian Bell

Ian Bell — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 10:04:00 +0000

Microsoft really screwed up bad with the Zune. It seems as if they did not take into consideration any of the reasons that made the iPod so successful. Instead all I see is a bunch of greedy product managers trying to figure out ways to make money – and for all of the wrong reasons.

The credit system to purchase songs is terrible. If you have a PlaysForSure library, it will not work with the Zune, and you can only share your songs up to 3 times with a friend, even on MP3's you have ripped yourself? Thats ridiculous.

By: Chris M.

Chris M. — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 09:20:24 +0000

I Love this Talk Back! You hit the nail on the head. Microsft messed this one up bad. When will an executive start to notice all of these failures?