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Is Microsoft Still Trying to Challenge the iPod?

Time: 09:57 EST/14:57 GMT | News Source: PC World | Posted By: Kenneth van Surksum

If the rumors are true, Microsoft is gearing up to release a new Zune and take another stab at the portable media player market. Engadget and Technologizer say that the new model will be released later this year, and will probably have HD capabilities. A spokesman for the Zune team declined to comment on the specific rumors, but told the Standard "we will deliver progress this calendar year on both hardware and software."

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#1 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:23:17 AM

NO!

Microsoft is challenging itself - to deliver the kind of device they themselves would like to use - which reflects feedback from their customers.

The notion that "all" people really want an iPod, or the Apple/iPod interpretation of what people want, is not the design driver.

Similarly, the notion that there is an 'anti-iPod' sentiment driving design is foolish and a waste of time.

That would be like tracing a leading driver in a race - you'll come in second every time and hit the wall a moment after he does.

What is needed is a new, broader device that works for Microsoft customers - home Windows networks, Xbox Live, etc... and eventually, Windows Mobile. Clearly the new ZuneHD is all about that - Windows user centric and focused on "Windows" users - exactly where it should be.

Most simply: "DRIVE YOUR OWN CAR!" and Microsoft is now doing that and it's great to see.

#2 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 12:59:33 PM

#1: You're reading too much into it. They're trying to challenge the iPod in that they are trying to displace it as the dominant portable media player. MS has never played for second-best. However, at this point in time the iPod is entrenched with a mix of features/aesthetics and consumer mindshare. The former is easy to address for the most part, but the latter is an intangible that you can't buy or predict.

#3 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 01:04:42 PM

Latch, no... I am interpreting a different and I suspect, winning stragtegy that focuses on Windows users and 'their' needs. It's nice to see what MS is doing here and it reflects that they are working to understand what a "Windows User" is.

#4 By 8556 (12.210.39.82) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 01:43:02 PM

Each consumer that has been using iPods are unlikely to switch due to iTunes purchases and familiarity. There is nothing wrong with Zune. There is a surprising amount of peer pressure in my rural area (and possibly everywhere) by current users of Apple's devices to convince their friends to buy the same brand. It's almost a herd mentality.

#5 By 3 (86.1.33.75) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 01:50:53 PM

It's more that if people hear about or talk about portable music players, they automatically think about the iPod - certainly not Zune or any other music player. You can't buy that kind of advertising. I hope the new Zune works well, even though they have basically said after this hardware update they may give the hardware a miss - might not fill buyers with hope there, especially as their firmware updates they promised for the original took over a year to come out to bring already 2 year old features, it becomes hard to trust them where the hardware side is involved.

Either way the hardware looks good - be good to see the specs and what it will bring to the world in terms of HD stuff - but personally the last place I'll want any HD media is on a portable device like an ipod or zune, even with TV connect-ability

#6 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 03:09:05 PM

There is nothing cool about a Zune. If your 14 year old kid walked into school with one he/she would be ridiculed. And before Lloyd gets on me, the last time he worried about "cool" was when he was deciding which buckboard to take to school.

#7 By 20505 (216.102.144.11) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 03:41:31 PM

#6

My 20 year old mentions iPod, Zune and whatever the Creative player is to all his friends when considering a MP3 player (personally I couldn't care less). Fourteen year old kids are really locked into these devices. They know them better than you think. Moreover, Apple is using a strategy they've successfully employed for years. Hook 'em while they're young.

I think the new MS ads target just this sort of behavior.

#8 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 03:43:22 PM

rxcall, I've never worried about cool and ironically, a good number of young people think that is pretty cool.

#9 By 28801 (71.58.225.185) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 07:27:15 PM

#8: I was just tweaking you. The buckboard line was too good to sit on.

#10 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at Wednesday, April 15, 2009 07:57:51 PM

#9, It was fun while we were young, but hurt after a few hours.

I actually took a steamer across the Pacific - an actual by gosh steamer! Slow, rolling, but the sights were so beautiful they will never be forgotten.

By the way, email? tweets? IM? New??? Not at all. telegraphs and telegrams were very common. Slow for sure and long delayed, but vital to communicating quickly and cheaply.

#11 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at Thursday, April 16, 2009 06:55:34 AM

#10: That's a great idea for an iPhone app - Morse Code! You could have a picture of the device with the knob moving up and down when the screen is touched.

I can hear it now -

Mom: Timmy, What are you doing?

Timmy:: I'm Morsing Bobby

Maybe not.

This post was edited by rxcall on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 07:47.

#12 By 23275 (24.196.4.141) at Thursday, April 16, 2009 08:53:08 AM

#11, yep. there was a time when every boy learned Morse. Similarly, amateur radio was big and gosh forbid... sending packet over radio... I still remember very well the scoffs, laughs and head tilts and rooms full of rolling eyes... right up until we showed how images - even moving images could be sent using packet... I did that decades before people knew what a network was - much less an Internet... and man/machine readable message formats? That made heads spin... it took the better part of ten years to get people to understand what one could do with that and why it should be adopted. It was nine dits and a da hot. I remember very well learning about EE from the man who invented the transistor. We sat on a roof, building antennae from scratch. Among the things he said that day was that we needed to build a school to teach others about what we were doing. I love being old, because young people keep reminding me of how much I have yet to learn.

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