Numbers Portend an Iffy Future for the Zune

Lonnie Lazar ()

zune-hd1.jpg

Can this device compete with any iPod?

In sharp contrast to Apple’s largely upbeat recent quarterly earnings announcement, Microsoft reported “a number of grim statistics, including a steep decline related to its Zune portable media player,” highlighted in a report Thursday at MarketWatch.

The portable music player sector seems to have reached a general level of saturation, as even Apple’s iPod — a device that spawned the resurgence of an entire industry when it was introduced nearly a decade ago — suffered an 11% drop in sales during the most recent quarter. But that is nothing compared to Microsoft’s copycat gadget, the Zune, which saw a 42% drop in year-over-year sales.

“If Zune were going to make a strong move against the iPod, it already would have,” said IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian, and some analysts are now looking for Microsoft to admit defeat and announce termination of its ill-fated hardware venture.

When the company launched the Zune in 2006, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believed its 802.11 wireless functionality would take out the iPod by creating a “community of entertainment aficionados” who’d enjoy being able to connect with one another and with other 802.11-enabled devices, but apparently there’s a reason devices such as the iPod and the Zune are often called personal media devices.

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Microsoft’s Zune Is Officially Dead

As late as March of this year, Ballmer still maintained the Zune is not going away, but unless the tepidly anticipated touch screen Zune HD is somehow a huge hit, declining numbers like the ones highlighted by MarketWatch foretell a grim future for the little PMP that couldn’t.

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About the author

Lonnie Lazar

Lonnie Lazar is a writer-musician-web designer-attorney. He writes about Apple for Cult of Mac and Mac|Life, and about VoIP and telecommunications for Voxilla. Follow Lonnie on Twitter @LonnieLazar, join the Cult of Mac on Facebook, and find Lonnie's photos on Flickr.

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Posted in iPod, News, Opinions |

  • Ultim8hogfan

    Microsoft should stick to making crappy operating systems.

  • Shawn Pero

    *Brown plastic
    *Pink and brown packaging
    *”Welcome to the social”
    *’squirting’
    *iJustine vs. Zune Guy (admittedly this last one is a tough call)

  • HarryJoseph

    Does anyone know anyone that actually owns a zune? I know only a few people that have non-ipod music players but it is a small number. They had a display at the local best buy and not ever seeing it in person I checked it out. It was huge! Funny thing was there was dust that had to be brushed off of it. All over the display it was advertised that you can “beam” songs to another zune. That whole functionality with the three days to check it out and purchase after option actually would be cool on an ipod. The problem with the zune is nobody has them so the functionality is useless.

  • Sandy

    Is anyone as shocked (sarcasm) as I am that this “new” design is SOOOO much like the original iPod Touch/iPhone?!?!?! Seriously, Metal Housing with Black at the bottom, IDENTICAL placement of company logo….

    Doesn’t ANYONE at Microsoft have any of their OWN ideas. I get that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but they are completely ridiculous. They have stolen er COPIED almost EVERYTHING that Apple has created from their GUI’s/OS to the Zune, now. It’s kind of pathetic that the ONLY innovation I can think of that they came up with WITHOUT borrowing from Apple was the Surface. Well, just my opinion, but I still think its pathetic.

  • Toyuwa Newton

    My uncle is the only person i know that owns a Zune. I believe iPod sales have taken a hit due to the proliferation of the iphone and Ipod Touch, as well as the iPod has saturated the market share in recent years. A product no matter how well designed it is can only go so far.

  • Ramón

    Microsoft just doesn’t seem to get it, do they? Well, I’m sure they’re tooling up for the next failure.

  • Sam

    This is a little pathetic. I actually have a Zune 80 and it’s a very admirable device. Certainly better than the iPod Classic (perhaps not the Touch).
    In any case, why is a blog about Macs reporting on Zunes?
    This is nearly as bad as the ‘OMFG IPODS ARE SO SHIT ZUNES ARE AWESOME’ zuneboards.com

  • JD

    Hmmm… Interesting article. Zune HD has now launched and both online and big box stores are having trouble keeping up with the orders. I have owned both the iPod Nano and iPod Video and I can say that, without a doubt, the Zune HD is FAR and away much better. The screen KILLS the current iPhone and iPod Touch. Music, video, and marketplace (Zune Pass) are far better than anything I experienced with iTunes and iPods previously.

    The masses are so prone to focus on Apple iPods that I think many will overlook and dismiss the Zune HD before they even put one in their hand and try it out… and that’s fine. Those who are a bit more open-minded might find themselves very pleasantly surprised.

    In summation… don’t knock it till you rock it.

    - JD