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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?"
Down to $229.99 apparently: http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/zune s-final-price-22999-msrp-202066.php
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)"?
And:
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
It seems that the Zune has a use after all, as a method to get Apple to reduce it's prices on the iPod.
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?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
How will Microsoft survive where they can't rely on piracy and an existing monopoly to gain marketshare (office), can't sell the hardware as a loss leader (xbox), and can't rely on others to sell it for them (windows).
Does this have a successful precident for Microsoft?
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
That would be great, but I wouldn't trust a sentence starting with "One of our moles on the inside told us...".
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
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.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Microsoft can make the Zune as cheap as they like. What made the iPod successful was how easy it was to add songs to it. I haven't seen the software that's going to be shipped with the Zune but I'm guessing it'll be similar to iTunes.
What I'm interested in though is how Microsoft are going to convert existing iPod owners over to their side. Aren't they offering something like the ability to download (for free) all the songs you have in iTunes onto your Zune from the Zune Marketplace, or are they going to copy all the existing songs from iTunes / iPod onto your Zune?
Summation 2
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.
Summation 2
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.
Hey, if anybody's gonna have some good insight into the underworld, it'd be a mole...
This guy's the limit!
So, the question is, will MS do with zune as they did with the xbox and sell it at a loss just so they can overtake apple.. ?
also, why is a zune price leak in the apple section?
MABASPLOOM!
[
I agree, wait a few months and Zunes will be on Overstock.com in the "iPod Killer" category :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
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?
www.lucernesys.comHorizon: Calendar-based personal finance
Are freeware writers also dumpers? Do they start being dumpers if they later start charging for their software? Mmmmm...
The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
They have to be careful. If it is cheaper than the iPod, that could add to it's image of being a knockoff. It's like wine. People look at all of the bottles on the shelf and don't have any idea what the difference is, but their pretty sure that the $40 bottle is better than the $6 bottle, even though that isn't really true at all. Put yourself at best buy. The 30GB iPod (which you've heard of and seen before) is $249 and this Zune thing is $229. You quickly scan the specs, see that they are about the same, and figure that this Zune thing must just be a cheap knockoff. On the other hand, if it were $259, you might ask a salesperson what the difference is.
All of this is moot anyway - they went after the wrong market, IMO. The most popular iPod is the tiny little Nano. Unless they were trying to create a niche product, I'm not sure why they didn't go after the biggest market.
Who runs MS, anyway? Who thought it was a great idea to compete with their licensees? And then against Apple's iPod, where all others have failed? If I was a shareholder I'd be furious. If I were a licensee I'd be furious. If iPod sales ever go flat (don't they have to at some point?), Apple might get a nice reception to an offer to license FairPlay now... a real "plays for sure".
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Yes, and every Slashdot reader also reads arstechnica. Oh, wait, no they don't.
We can only hope. They often just get modded "Troll", though. Really the whole problem with the moderation system is that the mods don't use it to moderate the discussion, they use it as a voting system. It's really just digg with another mechanism. Slashdot's mod system is really just a fancy thumbs-up/thumbs-down. The main advantage is that I can go into the prefs and change how each item affects the score. In your case, I recommend changing the "redundant" setting :) I tend to give each "positive" score double the weight of a negative score. This still filters out the true trolls without totally squashing unpopular viewpoints (such as Windows doesn't really crash much, or Bush actually has a point).
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Both companies will be making similar products at similar cost (using cheap labour etc). Apple has to maintain profitability on the iPod since it's a core Apple product, whereas Microsoft can afford to sell at cost or maybe a small loss in order to put strain on Apple. I would have thought this was illegal, but since it's standard practice in the console industry I'm not so sure. I think Apple is reorganising its iPod product, though. The Nano is being repositioned as the bread-and-butter line with the iPod being sold as a sort of 'premium' product. The Zune will come off second best to the Nano since most people don't want to socialise with their technology (mobile phones aside :P). An MP3 player is something you use when you are going somewhere, at the gym, bored or whatever, and not something you want to play around with infront of your friends swapping DRM'ed files and watching video. The raison d'etre for a digital audio player is... music, and by all accounts the Nano does this well. It's difficult to add value beyond that.
In short, the Zune has arrived just as the HDD iPod has left the stage.
Prosperity is only an instrument to be used, not a deity to be worshipped. Calvin Coolidge
When the Zune is introduced, it will have a new DRM system, incompatible with the PlaysForSure that Microsoft has been pushing and that many of their partners in WMA are using (from the Wikipedia article on Zune). This is similar to Apple's iPod, which uses FairPlay DRM, which Apple won't license to anyone. The Zune won't support Apple's DRM, and the iPod won't support Microsoft's.
So, Apple and Microsoft will both be pushing their own portable music players, with music being sold in formats that play nowhere else but in their own products. Hmm, where have we seen that before? Of course, neither of them is going to support the open and superior (in terms of audio quality) Vorbis.
What's funny about it is that Apple, which one one side professes to be all supportive of open source and open standards, has been beating Microsoft at the lock-in game on the other side. I guess that battle will soon get a second round.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
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.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I'm not interested in the Zune unless it can play all the stuff I have now, and connect to everything I have now. I have some MP3s and a whole bunch of M4As (ripped myself, not from iTMS). I also have a couple PCs and a couple Macs. I only got an iPod once it could connect to all the machines. Its usefulness as a removable drive is part of the deal. It's more than just a music player.
OK, I'm not the average person. The average person is going to say, "well, time to get one of those iPod things," go to Target or whatever and say, "where are your iPods?" A store person is going to point to the MP3 player section, the person's going to see this thing and say, "well, that's the cheap one, I'll get that," and go home and use it.
That's the kind of person I see buying this. For the chic people, or tech people, the Microsoft brand might be too damaged, plus the player doesn't offer much new beyond the neat photo/song-sharing thing. Sure, the interface is flashy, but from what I've seen that would just get in the way for me.
The Zune (got what a horrible name, not even sure how to pronounce it) may succeed in being the first real iPod competitor, by sheer force of Microsoft's juggernaut market power, but I don't think it's enough to knock the iPod off its throne.
I can't say enough about my 30G Video iPod. I love that thing! It is by far the most useful little device I've ever purchased. I like the interface (for the most part) - it intuitive and easy to use - even my mother and father can use it. I use it everywhere - programming at work, in my Jeep, at home doing choirs, biking, hiking - you name it. I'm soon to buy a clock radio that uses my iPod to wake me.
;)
I like its weight, too. It seems sturdy enough though I have a rubber case for it with a neck strap that's long enough to fit in my shirt pocket. Although, I did have to stop turning the volume down while it was still in my shirt pocket - spinning a finger around my shirt-pocket-area did elicite a few strange looks (which were promptly explained away - much to their relief!!).
As for other players...I'm sure they have their pros and cons over the Apple iPod; but, I've grown to attached to Apple's product why should I change? I'm satisfied with iTunes as it works pretty damn well on my systems.
I'm not a serious Microsoft basher - they put food on my table - but why should I toss all my money at MS when Apple seems to have hit a home run?
The term 'dumping' is usually only applicable to international trade and that's when a country sells goods to another country at a price below cost. The aim for such tatics is usually to destory another country's economy therefore it's usually viewed in negative light. In this case, I don't think the word 'dumping' applies since it's a common practice to sell hardware for cheap and try to gain profit from selling software (xbox and pretty much all gaming consoles).
I would call this a simple price war, which is good for us.
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...
It would be good that MS eats Apple part if only to show how evil DRMs can be.
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Yes, and we all know how Microsoft ran up the price of Internet Explorer once Netscape was out of the picture...
Yes we know, and for those skeptical people out there, here it is : they ran up the price by not paying anymore people on improving Internet Explorer. Which means that before, the price of Windows included the cost of the dev team on IE. After Netscape was out of the picture, the price of Windows didn't include that cost anymore, but was still the same.
I think you are failing to take into consideration the fact that this is a whole different set of circumstances.
Netscape lost the battle over IE due to one primary reason: IE was pre-bundled with Windows.
Now, you may scoff at that, but think about it.
A person new to PCs and the internet goes to the local Wal-Mart/BestBuy or whatever, and buys a computer. They come home, get it set up (or more likely, get help from a friend/relative) and try to get to the internet. And what pops up? Various MS assistants that lead them directly to Outleak, IE, and WMP. Case closed. If that person wanted Netscape, they had to download it from somewhere, or get a copy on a CD from their ISP. And even though MOST ISPs sent a copy of Netscape to the customers in the late 90's, the damage was already done. Customers were now familiar with IE and Outleak, and had no reason to switch.
The difference today is that both Zune and iPods are a computer attachment. And the purchaser of said MP3 players won't be looking at a PC for the very first time 99% of time. Nor will it be their first time on the internet.
Apple is flat out DOMINATING the portable MP3 player market. I am sure they are working HARD to keep their trademark alive, so the iPod doesn't become the Xerox machine , or the next aspirin. Because iPods are now synonomous to the world with MP3 player.
I just don't see MS getting the Zune to that point.
It would give a new meaning to "per-seat license"
I'll wipe with the End-user Latrine Agreement (EULA).
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Neither Apple nor MS will take a loss on their MP3 player. The 30 GB 5G iPod was estimated at USD 151 last year. http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/business/showAr ticle.jhtml?articleID=172303152
The new iPod is only an update no significant change was made. The cost should've gone down significantly by this time of the year, despite the brighter TFT LCD screen. Everyone knows how fast the hard drive drops in pricing. iPod's volume does wonders in pricing negotiation as well.
Yet Apple is selling at USD 299. So Apple will possible take a hit in the gross margin with the new USD 249 pricing.
Let's look at MS. The Zune has bigger TFT LCD screen, wireless module and toshiba design and manufacturing ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5288042.stm ). These factors can add significant cost to Zune.
I can't comment on the pricing of the EE parts since it is known, so I will assume it is comparable to iPod.
Also the retailers (Bestbuy, Circuit city...) will need take their 10 to 20 percent margin as well.
So it is clear that Apple will make less money on the new 30 GB iPod and MS' margin will be squeezed if the rumor for the low pricing for Zune is true.
The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity....Calvin
Did anyone else read it as "Walmart leaks prune juice?"
My bicyles
C:\>copy \windows \windows2