Microsoft backpeddles, says Zune is still alive

October 5, 2011 By Jeffrey Van Camp

Microsoft may have confirmed that the Zune HD was dead yesterday, but it's completely denying the device is dead today.

Yesterday, we reported that Microsoft had officially announced that the Zune HD and hardware was dead and that Windows Phone was the new focus for the brand. That information came directly from a page on Zune.net. Well, now Microsoft claims that it was all a big mistake and that it wasn’t official in the first place.

Here’s what the @ZuneSupport team said on Twitter: “We are still supporting the Zune HD hardware. No official info has been released stating hardware is being discontinued.”

Well, okay. Here’s what the message on the Zune.net site said yesterday: “We recently announced that, going forward, Windows Phone will be the focus of our mobile music and video strategy, and that we will no longer be producing Zune players. So what does this mean for our current Zune users? Absolutely nothing. Your device will continue to work with Zune services just as it does today. And we will continue to honor the warranties of all devices for both current owners and those who buy our very last devices. Customer service has been, and will remain a top priority for us.”

Clearly, if Microsoft wrote this info on the site, created a page for it, and removed all of the Zune HD pages (they have since returned), a plan is in place to kill the Zune HD. What benefit does Microsoft gain from lying about it now? The word is out. Anyone buying a Zune in the last two years has had to know the day might come when Microsoft discontinues the device. It just hasn’t taken off.

So, it looks like we’ll have to hear about the Zune’s death yet again, at a later date. How fun. Hopefully Microsoft will ease the nonexistent pain with some other announcement, or a clever list of talking points.

Showing 7 comments

Juan Frias at 2:00pm 7th October 2011 Yep the marketing was crappy for the zune to begin with. Sounds like a comeback in the making because I to read an article of the end of zune haha.
Adam Krant at 2:56am 6th October 2011 good i like the 320 non commpreed music
Cassie Reeder at 11:35pm 5th October 2011 There's still some hope alive for a decent mp3 player.
Jordan Lawal at 5:30pm 5th October 2011 sounds like microsoft
Rich Hansell at 4:48pm 5th October 2011 Just let it go MS.. Concentrate on WP7..
John Compton at 4:36pm 5th October 2011 Wow, so both people that got one still use 'em.....who knew.
WPDownUnder at 9:22am 5th October 2011 And here's their comment (screenshot) of the response they gave me about the original Zune page announcing the end of Zune Hardware devices:http://www.wpdownunder.com/?p=2743What is going on there?Sheeds.