

J. Allard gives us some insight on the concept behind Zune





Comments     Threshold


RE: Arrrrgh matey!
By mpc7488 on 9/14/2006 5:42:31 PM , Rating: 2
I see what you're saying, but I see some pretty cool potential too. (And it *has* been a while since you've been on a college campus, the damn things are everywhere!) Commuter trains, planes, etc. are all areas where people are tightly packed and might want to "subscribe" to any locally broadcast playlists to pass the time. Also, if the range is decent, you could even have friends driving a few car lengths behind you on cruise control and listen to the same songs on road trips. Having the ability to re-play songs you like is a pretty neat feature too. And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone figures out how you can transmit unprotected mp3s (your own personal works only, of course) to friends, and that might prove slightly popular.

RE: Arrrrgh matey!
By slashbinslashbash on 9/14/2006 6:07:46 PM , Rating: 2
No doubt there's some cool potential, but my point was more that for any of this cool stuff to happen, a whole bunch of people are going to have to ditch their iPods or whatever else they use and switch to Zune. It's got to have pretty huge market penetration before it gets to the point where people can even have the chance to use this cool stuff.

I think this might be possible if 1) MS severely undercuts the iPod on pricing (like $150 for a 30GB Zune) or 2) the Zune had some above-and-beyond capability like gaming or something. But as it is, it pretty much plays movies and music, with the capability to download this stuff over WiFi from other people's Zunes being the only real upgrade over an iPod.

I know that this increasingly networked path is the way the market will trend, but right now I don't think it's enough of a benefit to get people to switch, particularly when creating a product from scratch like this. The network effect is a double-edged sword. Once you get big enough, more people will use the product just because other people are using the product, and all users benefit from more people using the product. However, in the initial phases, any network-related benefits to the product are negated because there isn't that critical mass of users.

RE: Arrrrgh matey!
By Ralph The Magician on 9/14/2006 6:47:49 PM , Rating: 2
$150 for a 30GB player? What would the point be in that? If Microsoft takes a loss on every player, what's the point of even making it? Just to stick it to Apple?

Remember, Apple and Microsoft make virtually nothing on media. In fact, they probably generate losses from time to time for that sector specifically, because they have to pay infastructure costs for their music services.

The new iPod is already $249. Apple can cut the prices down like that because they KNOW they'll sell volume. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zune costs the same. I suppose they could cut it down to $199...maybe.

RE: Arrrrgh matey!
By slashbinslashbash on 9/15/2006 6:46:54 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, yes. Think about Xbox vs PS2 and GameCube. It's well known that the Xbox lost money for several years (not just on hardware) in order to break into the videogame market versus these established players. MS recognized that they had to lose major bucks in order to establish Xbox as a viable competitor. MS was actually one of the few companies that could afford to do so, and it was their stated strategy at the outset ("We're going to lose money on Xbox, but it's crucial for long-term positioning"). I can easily see MS doing the same thing with Zune, if they've truly decided to dedicate the company to it. And I'm actually kind of getting that vibe from the rhetoric in the J Allard interview.

RE: Arrrrgh matey!
Just found an article about this....



Related Articles
Microsoft Launches Zune
September 14, 2006, 12:30 PM
