Wal-Mart Leaks Zune Price

nieske writes, "Engadget reports that Wal-Mart accidentally published online the intended price of the Microsoft Zune; the iPod rival would apparently retail for $284. The price was quickly pulled from the Wal-Mart site. Reports say that Microsoft was flustered when Apple dropped the price for the iPod 30 GB, previously $299, to $249. BetaNews states that 'undercutting the iPod is a major goal of Microsoft's upcoming effort.' Will Microsoft respond to Apple with another price drop?"

Comments

Re:Slashdot.....news for people living 72hrs ago

[stubear]

Didn't you get the memo on the new tagline for Slashdot, "old news for nerds, stuff that only mattered 3 days ago (unless it's about the Wii)"?

Zune? WTF?!?

[XxtraLarGe]

Microsoft isn't going to do squat with the "Zune" for one reason alone. The thing is called "Zune". What does that mean to anybody? Must have been some real genius that came up with that one. I wonder if the package is going to look anything like this?

Re:Zune? WTF?!?

[T.E.D.]

The thing is called "Zune". What does that mean to anybody?

Its something to listen to while drinking a Zima?

Re:Zune? WTF?!?

[chrismcdirty]

Likely, it will only go the way of this lame mp3 player.

Re:Zune? WTF?!?

[Ubergrendle]

Because "iPod" is a perfectly intuitive brandname? Even 'walkman' doesn't make much sense, although I guess you can walk and you are a membmer of mankind when listening to music.

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[rbarreira]

That would be great, but I wouldn't trust a sentence starting with "One of our moles on the inside told us...".

Sexy sells

[Rik Sweeney]

Once again on the price, you need to make a product sexy to sell it. The dancing silhouette with the white headphones sold the iPod because it looked good.

So Microsoft, I propose you do this:

A dancing Ballmer silhouette.

My pulse is rising already just thinking about it.

Re:Sexy sells

[sys49152]

So Microsoft, I propose you do this: A dancing Ballmer silhouette.

Ask and you shall receive: http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/ballmer/

Re:Hey!! That's not fair!

[Anonymous Coward]

Then Apple will just launch the jPod. All the features and looks exactly like the iPod, but cheaper than the Zune. They save on cost by not drawing the tail on the j, so it looks a lot like an i.

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[gEvil (beta)]

Hey, if anybody's gonna have some good insight into the underworld, it'd be a mole...

Re:Who pays standard retail prices for electronics

[MightyYar]

I agree, wait a few months and Zunes will be on Overstock.com in the "iPod Killer" category :)

Re:Not true

[Volante3192]

How will Microsoft recoup losses to the Zune later on?

They'll mark up the next Office by $100. Problem solved.

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[rackhamh]

Is this dumping?

I'm serious. With their huge cash reserves, Microsoft could enter the market in toilet seats tomorrow, price them at 99 cents, drive everyone else out of business, and drive up the price to $10,000 a seat.

We've already seen them put Netscape out of business by giving away the browser, so can Apple (or any other manufacturer) cry 'foul' and accuse Microsoft of dumping? What are the laws in this situation?

Yes, and we all know how Microsoft ran up the price of Internet Explorer once Netscape was out of the picture...

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[Garabito]

I'm serious. With their huge cash reserves, Microsoft could enter the market in toilet seats tomorrow, price them at 99 cents, drive everyone else out of business, and drive up the price to $10,000 a seat.

It would give a new meaning to "per-seat license"

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[operagost]

I'll wipe with the End-user Latrine Agreement (EULA).

Title

[MoxFulder]

Did anyone else read it as "Walmart leaks prune juice?"

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[Drooling Iguana]

C:\>copy \windows \windows2