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

It's doomed

[clickclickdrone]

Let's be honest here.
Ipod is synonamous with MP3 player now. Even grannies going to the shops for their grandchildren will ask for an iPod by name. We say podcast, podcasting. I can't see people Zunecasting. Unless the Zune offers something substantially better or a great and highly compelling new feature (Actually, I've just thought of one, maybe I should copyright it right now..) no-one else has thought of then it's just not going to sell. The only hope MS have is to back it up with an extremely cheap song purchase system but I can't see them doing that without oodles of DRM involved.

Re:It's doomed

[_xeno_]

One major killer feature of the iPod are iPod accessories. If Microsoft wants to compete with the iPod, they'll need to be completely compatible with it.

I have an iPod adapter for my car radio. I hook my iPod up to it and can play directly through the radio. This isn't one of those little "FM radio car adapters" either. It puts the iPod into "control mode" or whatever they call it, and can change playlists and move through the playlist directly though the radio.

This is good, because the radio is designed to be easy to control from the driver's seat without looking at it. The most used buttons (skip song, volume) are shaped to be easy to tell by touch and are positioned to be within easy reach.

As far as I know, there is no adapter kit for my radio for any other MP3 player on the market. Only one for the iPod.

If Microsoft wants to compete with the iPod, the Zune needs to be able to support the accessory market. The iPod may not be the greatest MP3 player ever created, but it has the accessory market, and that provides a lot of value that Microsoft will be missing.

Re:Ease of use vs price?

[Lumpy]

And can you imagine the DRM nightmare that is going to be on that MSFT device? I have clients all the time needing help moving music they ripped on mediaplayer to a new machine. they will not play because they did not set the "dont encumber my music with drm dammit" flag in the advanced settings hidden in mediaplayer. so I haveto explain to them what DRM is and they still do not understand.

The other biggest failure of the Microsoft device will be that I dont care what service they couple with, iTunes has way more music selection on it that anything Microsoft can come up with.

I dont love the iPod, I'm a non drm kind of guy with my iRivers... but microsoft is not known for open and easy to use.

Re:Will MS respond? Yes.

[rbarreira]

Are freeware writers also dumpers? Do they start being dumpers if they later start charging for their software? Mmmmm...

Re:A good use for the Zune

[eclectic4]

"We know the stories about Apple (ab)using cheap labour to maintain the iPod's profitability at the moment"

Trolly troll. *sigh* I'll feed you...

Microsoft will also be (ab)using cheap labour to maintain profitability, it's how business is done. The shirt you are wearing, the computer you are typing on, etc... were all made using cheap foriegn labour. Apple voluntarily investigated the accusations, hired a third party to oversee, and has since been shown to be largely false. If Apple "abuses" anything, it's cornering the market on components

"Microsoft may be using their position to deliberately push Apple into a crisis."

Actually, it seems Apple dropping their prices has actually pushed Microsoft into a "crisis". Apple holds 75% of the digital music playing market, and it accounts for about 40% of their profits (all other coming from Mac and software sales). I'm not sure you know what you are talking about.

Re:Not true

[tb3]

No, because Apple didn't have any online music sales before they launched the iPod. Then they did iTMS, and it worked.

Microsoft, on the other hand, has tried numerous times to sell music online, and failed each time. That's their track record. What part of that is so hard to grasp?

Zune is a loss leader

[snowwrestler]

The product it is leading is Vista.

In the 1990's Microsoft spent thousands of man-hours creating a pen operating system that died on the vine. It was a pure cost to the company, no profit. But the key point is that it died AFTER the GO Penpoint operating system died. Martin Eller, one of the Microsoft staff involved, even has a quote in his book:

"This wasn't a thing about making money. This was all about 'block that kick.""

Apple makes money selling iPods, but the big play for them is the iPod halo effect to sell more Macs. Macs (and Mac software) are much more profitable than an iPod. The release of Vista, with all its associated angst, represents a big opportunity for Apple. Microsoft will fight that halo effect with everything they've got, even if they have to lost money on every single Zune. They make their money from Windows, and this is all about protecting the Microsoft market (and mind) share.