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Microsoft to Launch Zune in EU

Posted by Zonk on from the worked-well-here-why-not-there dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Happy with the sales from the little brown music player here in the states, Microsoft is working to launch the Zune media player in Europe by the end of the year. According to the Washington Post article, they are trying to have a realistic outlook on the entrenched Apple product line. They're not trying to play catch-up at the moment ... they're just trying to get on the map. From the article: '"Our next round of introductions will probably be in time for the holiday of this year." [Jason Reindorp] said Microsoft planned extensive research with focus groups in Europe to see how it could be modified for a European consumer. He said the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, according to the latest data, and that it was still in line to sell over a million units by June 30, the end of its current fiscal year.'"

6 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. The "30 GB cathegory"? by Martin+Kallisti · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It might be prudent to ask how many different players the "30 GB cathegory" consists of. This sounds like the Zune's total market share is very, very small.

  2. Fishy Numbers by Triv · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the Zune had a 10.2 percent market share in the U.S. in the 30 gigabyte category, according to the latest data...

    That's fishy to me because it sounds like they mean of concurrent sales (meaning it wouldn't include people who bought 30gb iPods when Apple still made them in that size).

    What that means is, of all media players sold this year that store 30GB of data that aren't iPods, the Zune has a 10% market share which, factoring in Apple's huge part of that market, is much, much smaller a percentage than it sounds like.



    Triv

  3. I've got a Zune by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    My impressions:
    • The wireless feature is fairly useless. It would be nice if lots of people owned Zunes, but I don't see that happening.
    • The Zune software is really blah. That's unfortunate. I wish the Zune hardware interfaced with Windows Media Player 11, which I like more than iTunes. (The iTunes software is one reason I didn't get an iPod.)
    • The killer feature, to me, is the unlimited download subscription service. I've been having a lot of fun with that.
    • And finally, it's amazing to me how much money can be spend on a massively bad marketing campaign.
  4. The market share percentage is misleading by PapayaSF · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The market share percentage is certainly misleading when you look at the raw numbers: the Zune was introduced in November, and by June (7 months later) they say they will have sold 1 million. On the other hand, Apple sold 21 million iPods in the last quarter alone, and over 8 million in each of the previous 3 quarters.

    In other words, by June Apple should be selling about as many iPods every 10 days as there were Zunes sold in 7 months. Put it that way, and it's hard for Microsoft to brag about.

    --
    Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
  5. Re:Focus groups by rucs_hack · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I suspect it will be in for a very hard sell.
    The main problem is the perception that it wasn't built for the consumer, but for the media producers. This is another one for the bargain bucket if you ask me.

    I'm sure the designers were able to convince themselves that users want Zune style restrictions in their media experience, but history shows that people will gravitate towards the simplest device that meets their needs, and the Zune isn't it.

    The sad thing is there is probably some kickass hardware in the thing, but it's been tasked, as I said, to suit media producers first, which is the wrong way round.

  6. Opinion on the Zune by rjdegraaf · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Check out the video on the Zune Player (very funny, but true).


    It discusses:
    - MS Zune's does not work with MS Windows Vista
    - MS Zune's incompatibility with (even) MSN Music Format (you have to rebuild your music collection)
    - 4 registration's before buying music from the Zune music store (when player installs, MS passport, Music Store Website, Tag registration)
    - Zune points for buying music, to mislead consumers on the price of music (1 Zune point > 1 dollar, thus 0.79 ZunePoint looks cheaper)
    - Zune player WiFi music share expires songs shared after 3 times listening or 3 days (whichever comes first)

    Hilarious!

    See also: CNN.com ridicules Zune Player