Heavily Discounted Zune Outpacing iPod Sales
firegate writes "Yahoo Tech is reporting that the Microsoft Zune, having been heavily discounted for the holiday season, 'is currently Amazon's top-selling music player, beating out the new iPod Nano and the 80GB iPod on the 'Bestsellers in Electronics' list.' An Associated Press report even indicates that the Zune's newfound popularity has left it in short supply, sold out in many locations. Is this a sign that a true competitor, from Microsoft no less, has finally broken into the Apple-dominated MP3 player market? And will this spell more success for Windows-media based music subscription services like Napster?"
Don't post articles on what is or isn't on amazons bestseller list. Because as soon as you do this, amazon will prove you wrong.
Granddaughter: I want an iPod for Christmas!
Grandmother: Okay, honey!
Later that day, grandmother has a sudden attack of sticker shock at the price of the iPod and asks if there's something "like it" for cheaper. The clerk, with a "someone's going to be disappointed this Christmas" smirk on his face, hands her a heavily discounted Zune. The grandmother, not knowing any better, purchases said Zune.
Come Christmas morning, the granddaughter rushes to the Christmas tree to find the box containing her brand new iPod. Upon ripping off the wrapping paper, she realizes... she got a Zune.
At this point, she has two choices: demand a return for an iPod (usually out the question, since insulting grandmother may cut off any future birthday cash) or she'll feign excitement (a skill nearly all women are born with) and start secretly plotting to kill her grandmother.
Moral of the story: if you're a grandparent and you don't want to die at the hands of your sweet, loving granddaughter... don't buy a Zune!
"The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
The operative word should have been "Overpriced".
Aside from your comment about the music store, from what I've seen of the Zune (I don't own either an iPod or a Zune) it works just fine for a media player. Yeah, the color schemes are lame and they certainly don't have the marketing team that Apple does for their units, but money talks.
I have this sneaking suspicion that there will be a lot of forced smiles and strained "Thanks, Mom"s come Christmas morning.
Followed by a spike in iPod sales the following week.
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Most retailers will comp competitors ads. We managed to get rid of our stock of brown zunes (all we had left of the gen 1s) last friday because toys R us had them (specifically the turd brown one) advertised for $79. Hanvt sold any other zunes since then that i know of. Plenty of nanos and 80gb classics tho. The microsoft rep was in the other day to check our displays, clean the 360 display or something, i almost laughed in his face. Woman came up and asked if we had any Wiis, i told her no, we got our shipment of 10 for the week earlier that day and they had sold out in less than 2 hours. He overhears my side of the conversation and is like "What sold out? zunes?".
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
From the iPod Touch 16GB:
List Price: $399.00
Price: $398.99
You Save: $0.01
Wow! Thanks Amazon!
1. Download iTunes
2. Subscribe to some podcasts.
3. Sync your iPod.
Oh sure, you don't get to learn how to use wget or curl, bash scripting, cron, mount, and rsync. But you'll get to hear your podcasts.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
"It's not rocket surgery."
I'm going to have to steal that line.
but just keeps on doing what I want - it plays tunes while I run.
Who are you running from? Oh wait. Hey hang on a minute. Nerds do NOT exercise. Get out of here, nerd card revoked.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Oh c'mon, we don't have to turn every thread into an iPhone flamewar.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Nerds do NOT exercise. Get out of here, nerd card revoked.
What's worse, it was my girlfriend that started me running!
Three Squirrels