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No App Store For Microsoft's Zune HD
Xerfas writes 'Microsoft's Zune HD, set to go on sale Tuesday, will not feature an open application store like its competitor the iPod Touch. It will come with some unique features, though, like an HD radio tuner, and with software that has been well-received by users. Those capabilities will determine whether the ZuneHD sells well — and whether Microsoft decides to keep selling its own music player, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.' The Zune marketing manager was quoted in the Seattle Times on whether the Zune would open up for 3rd-party apps, and he gave a response of such mind-numbing PR-speak that John Gruber of Daring Fireball was moved to provide this English translation: "No, because our mobile strategy is a convoluted mess."
"Microsoft's Zune HD, set to go on sale Tuesday, will not feature a tightly controlled by control freaks with degrees in control freakery application store like its competitor the iPod Touch."
Fixed.
I have a cheap sansa. It plays mp3/ogg/flac. It plays little xvid videos and plays and records FM.
What more do I need?
Are these damn players becoming like cell phones? Do app stores matter? Makes no sense to me.
This is a major oversight if Microsoft isn't going to allow 3rd party apps. Maybe when they get around to supporting it, you'll be able to install apps without using an iTunes-style interface. Directly from app's website perhaps?
Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling a pig in the mud. After a while, you realize the engineer enjoys it.
It will come with some unique features, though, like an HD radio tuner
It's ironic that the "HD" in "HD radio" stands for high definition, when current digital, especially with lossy comression, has a LOWER definition than the old analog vinyl did. Yes, FM is nowhere near the fidelity of LP, but neither is CD.
Have you ever heard a CD that you would confuse with a live performance? Me either. I have heard LPs played on high end equipment that you would confuse with a live performance. I guess that's why they changed it from "High Fidelity" to "High Definition, because at today's low sampling rates and especially lossy compression, the fidelity just isn't there.
I do realise that HD gives features lackin in the analog part, like song titles printed out and so forth. Maybe it should stand for "Happy with Digital"?
Free Martian Whores!
Sure a dedicated app store is a great way to funnel your customers to your door. But that's like saying you only have one store available to you, and you have to pay in Stokessd-town dollars. I'm sure you would have less total customers than if the unit was open to applications from anywhere, although you'll most likely collect more stokessd-town dollars.
If my quick read of the article (what there is of it), there "does not have plans for an iPhone-like app platform", but that doesn't meant that apps cannot be run on the device. Much like the jailbroken iPhone app market, there could be a zune app market independent of microsoft's non-existent store. The unit has too much potential not to have apps developed for it. It's just a matter of who and how many.
Microsoft has done a very consistent job of managing the Zune. That management got it where it is today, and I see this revelation as being consistent with all the previous management decisions.
Sheldon
Can a third party develop apps on their own, can they be installed easily etc?
"we know people want things like this on their devices so we're going to build them ourselves, they're going to be super high-quality, and they're going to be free."
Thankyou Microsoft! Now programmers won't have to worry about getting carpal tunnel syndrome programming apps and games for the Zune HD. What a strategy. Grateful programmers will flock to the Zune just out of appreciation for Microsoft!
Then you get mean lazy old Apple making third party developers to make games and apps for their clearly inferior iphone, and ipod touch. I'm honestly surprised they haven't gone bankrupt yet.
No App Store For Microsoft's Zune HD
I only read the Q&A on the blog linked but I did catch this:
All of our apps are free ... and it's a managed solution right now, so we're building these apps or working with third parties to build these apps and provide them to our customers for free.
Followed by:
That being said, we know people want things like this on their devices so we're going to build them ourselves, they're going to be super high-quality, and they're going to be free.
It sounds like you'd have a hard time getting third parties to release applications on the Zune given the above aims. Now, free apps are great but I don't think a store would have much of a purpose if everything there is free. Regardless, I expect this to fail with a 95% chance of that. The biggest influence that "we're going to build them ourselves" means a very very tight bandwidth for incubating games followed by literally mods of older games to take place in a different setting or tweaked to read "Spiderman" instead of "Superman." Gamers don't normally fall for that although your general populace might. And if I want to create a game "with" them what do I do? Get in line behind Project Gotham racing?
I don't think convoluted's a good criticism but it's certainly a poor or doomed strategy in my opinion.
My work here is dung.
It will come with some unique features, ..., and with software that has been well-received by users>/i>
OOOooooo, that's a first.
If they could only create a decent music storage device with multiple inputs/outputs that allowed you to record off a digital or analog signal or upload from your computer, put it on very stable media, and had great battery life...
Oh yeah, they did-the minidisc. Of course, Sony screwed that pooch. Let's do that again with an SD capable player and quit fiddling with video and all that other gimmicky crap. If MS could bring that to the table I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Until then I'll stick with my outdated antiquated MD player.
Here's an interesting article regarding the hype surrounding Zune HD (which isn't actually HD to begin with).
In Microsoft's world, HD means 480x272. HD Radio? It stands for Hybrid Digital, not High Definition and works only in US.
Let's see, it's set to go on sale just about now. So how exactly has the software "been well-received by users"???
Why is his comment on the matter even being taken seriously? Regardless of what Brian said, Gruber's level of bias in this matter renders him unfit for citation.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
It has poor quality and the user experience when the signal fades is awful.
But you are completely insane about the vinyl thing. It's in your head.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
You know, I know this is slashdot and all, but this is a VERY biased article.
They don't have an open app store yet because they want all the games to be free, and developed in house, which isn't as bad as this summary makes it sound.
They aren't merging with windows mobile's store because they want to make extra sure the Zune is perfect, and I absolutely don't blame them.
I'm pretty annoyed that whoever wrote this summary was this biased, the Zune HD looks awesome and its really unfair to try to make it look bad on a site that gets 2 million hits a day. If it ends up being bad, that's one thing, but give it a freakin chance.
-Taylor
Worldwide Military budgets: $2100 billion. Worldwide Space Exploration budgets: $38 billion. Really, world? Really?
Are these damn players becoming like cell phones? Do app stores matter? Makes no sense to me.
In the case of the iPod Touch, it's become a highly popular gaming platform, not to mention having things like iCal, wifi, safari bundled, etc etc. It's either filled a void by providing a hybrid PDA+music player+gaming device, or created that void and told people that they need this. Imho it's a bit of both.
Reply to That ||
... you realize this article is NEGATIVE towards Microsoft... right?
1) The OLED display is tons brighter than the display on the iPhone, so their point is moot.
Their battery life argument flops as they don't actually talk about Zune HD's energy savings. Zune HD nets the same battery life with a smaller battery than the iPod Touch.
2) The Quake 3 demo wasn't done on an iPod Touch; it was done on a totally different device. The hardware ecosystem in which a processor is used has a heavy impact on performance metrics, so the FPS gap noted here is a highly dubious claim.
3) Zune HD was never touted as mobile HD, so this point is moot.
4) The quality of digital radio is better than analog radio, so that point is also down. Think of how digital signals can carry HD video whereas analog signals are unsuited for the task.
5) "The Windows CE foundation that the Zune HD is built upon is regarded as a joke throughout the industry" unsubstantiated (and false, might I add) point. Besides this, the author doesn't provide much other "evidence"
Nice article.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
after Apple dropped the price on the iPod touch. Regardless of how good the new Zune is, the point is that it has a LOOOONG way to go before it catches up and pricing yourself about the same as your already well-established competitor is pretty much a recipe for failure.
Monstar L
What happened to the day when microsoft made a million useless machines usefull again... now their just making a million useless machines
Zune does have a 'store'. There is the Zune Marketplace, around longer than the iphone app store. You can download games to your Zune (very limited) from the Marketplace, isn't that essentially what the iPhone app store does? The Zune isn't the iPhone or the iTouch (comes close), it is a DRM heavy Microsoft portable media player with the ability to run certain apps and share things with other Zune owners. If you have the cash and easy wifi access, then you are set on the media front. The Zune isn't for the pirate with a billion mp3's on their system as the Windows software is tailored to help you download from the Marketplace. The Zune is for listening to music, podcasts, watching videos and movies, being part of a Zune community.
An app store doesn't even make sense with the Zune fees. You can buy songs piecemeal but that would be idiotic when you can get all-you-can-eat plans. And if the smartest thing to do on the zune is pay for all-you-can-eat, why would somebody then pay extra for little games and apps?
The HD radio thing is not new, it's been in the Zune since the first incarnation. The newest feature would have to be it's ability to download tracks (from the Marketplace) that you hear and tag while listening to the radio.
There is an SDK for developing apps, if you are into that kind of stuff.
They got rid "squirting" feature which Balmar was so proud of.
First, Microsoft has removed the "squirting" feature, which let you send songs directly from one Zune to another. This feature was supposed to be a big selling point of the first Zune but was crippled by unreasonable rights restrictions that let you play songs only three times or within three days (whichever came first). Microsoft and content owners gradually loosened those restrictions, but the feature never made much difference--mainly because there were so few Zune users out there to exchange songs with. (The "first man with a telephone" problem.) Now it's gone
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10352637-27.html
Why do they only sell the Zune it in the US ? If they don't have the complexity of an application store, it should be relatively easy.
You have to wonder if Microsoft really wants to sell Zunes... As an iPod user, I would welcome a stronger competition.
Please Microsoft, keep Apple at work, else they will become another lazy monopolist !
*Zune HD AV Dock and an HDTV (all sold separately) are required to view video at HD resolution. Supported 720p HD video files play on the player, downscaled to fit the screen at 480 x 272 â" not HD resolution. Zune Pass subscription required; streaming via wi-fi available in U.S. only. HD Radioâ is a proprietary trademark of iBiquity Digital Corp. Learn more about HD Radio here.
So does that mean I need a "zune pass" to play video on my zune? What the hell is a zune pass anyway? Ok, so I look it up, but now why do I need it again?
...is how this time, M$ decided to leave behind their prior Zune models with any new features in the update. Discontinuing them should have been the sign. As a 18-month owner of a Zune80, I'm seriously disappointed. The only new features we legacy Zune (18months is legacy now?) users get are for the desktop app, which personally I only use to manage my device, and nothing more. Since I have it running on a Windows Media Center PC, why do I need yet another app that does pretty much the same thing, especially from the same vendor. Even more, in a time of recession, where I don't want to drop another couple hundred for a replacement device that's hardly showing its age or need for replacement, why would I possibly want to replace it?
If you read the Zune forums, its full of device feature requests for simple things...unicode support, crossfade, better playlist management, better integration with Windows apps (there is currently none for WMP or WMC). All of these pretty much since Gen-1 of the device, and all have been disregarded since the Zune marketing team felt it necessary to take this route instead.
Its simply a sad example of greed overtaking common sense at the expense of a bit more hard work. A philosophical example of modern capitalism and American excess too?
Anyone wanna buy a Gen-2 Zune80 is Good condition? I'll use the $ to buy a MiniSD for my cellphone to consolidate my gadgets instead.
Obviously we're moving more and more towards convergence devices which will handle many or all of the mobile technology needs of people. But we're not at that point fully yet.
Knowing this establishing yourself as a solid contender in one venue (music/media playback) isn't a bad thing. Then put together future offerings once others have dangled around in the market and figured out what people really do and don't want.
I could see MS coming out with a version of Windows Mobile that is a "everything under one roof" approach, but probably in another year or so. Take the interface of the Zune's and put it with the backside of Windows Mobile. Forcing a convergence of these two ahead of time would probably only cause a bad product to be made. Also waiting until the Windows 7 release machine hits full force, then release a new mobile OS and tie it all together with Xbox becoming a full on media center and you have something Apple wouldn't.
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
Please read the gave a response link.
No amount of astroturf can cure the ridiculousification of messages in TFA.
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
It will come with some unique features, though, like an HD radio tuner
Does "unique" mean "just like the iPod Nano"?
(The Nano's ability to show artist and song names, and its "iTunes Tagging" features, shared with some FM radio iPod docks, also use HD radio. Apple just doesn't, for whatever reason, put "HD radio" in giant flaming letters in its advertising.)
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
I no longer *need* my iPod or any MP3 player. I use an application called Orb that streams all of the media on my Windows desktop to my Cell Phone or any web browser. I don't have to worry about syncing my iPod to download media or running out of space on my iPod. As long as it's on my PC, I can stream it to my phone. Orb is free, but it uses the bandwidth of your home PC to stream out the media...which is fine for music and live TV or video on the cell phone. But the lower video quality is noticeable when you stream it to a desktop. I expect this to change as residential upload speeds will eventually go up.
I don't know how else to put it. It seems like Microsoft is coming straight out the gate on the apologetic. What sort of impression is this going to send to people considering investing in the platform? They haven't expressed any clear strategy for a possible addition of Windows Mobile apps in the future, which seems equally stupid.
Do what Apple does- sometimes you just have to lie to make yourself sound impressive!
Let's take a lesson from Apple here: they've been pawning off old technology in Mac OS X as impressive new features for years. Apple knows what the fuck they're doing. The Zune marketing presentation, on the other hand, seems hyper aware of its shortcomings and the marketing response is a hurried explanation for why they aren't competing. "Sorry guys... we'll write a twitter app by the end of the year"...
END OF THE YEAR?! That's like a student project for beginning .NET development. How about they start spitting out some apps fast, and if not, just release a goddamn SDK. You are MICROSOFT, you have Visual Studio, XNA, etc. What the hell are you doing releasing a closed platform? They are competing with the iPod Touch, not the original iPod!
Do you want to know how bad of a release this is? I was going to buy one of these things until today. I assumed they had some clever card up their sleeve they were waiting to unveil at launch... nope... they were avoiding showing the App store because it has like 5 applications.
Do you want to know what I saw when I opened up the Zune software to check the app offerings this morning? ... a fucking calculator.
Really? Maybe they can distribute a Hello World app to go with that. This thing makes me want to buy an iPod Touch... and I totally hate Apple.
How many slashdotters were going to buy a Zune anyway? It is a dead-end product, regardless of whether or not they offer an app store. How many third party developers are ready, willing, and able to develop apps for Zune? Seems like most of them are too busy supporting iPod to even support Android, let alone Zune. Given a choice, and taking into consideration Microsoft's long history of screwing third party developers, which platform would you target?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Zune users must be some real tards if they think a device having a radio, HD or otherwise is a real marketing hook. Radios are soooo last century.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
Just got a Zune HD and the built-in support for 3rd party apps is pretty slow, it takes several seconds to load each of the handful of apps they have in the Zune app store.
Everyone is out today snapping up the new iPods. Me included.
Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
Oh noes! Someone said something about a Microsoft product without being negative the entire time. Astroturfer!
"The Zune HD costs $220 for a 16 gigabyte version in black or $290 for a 32 gig model in platinum. Red, green and blue models are also available from the Zune's online store..."
No brown option? Lame.
The HD in HD Radio refers to the fact that the sound quality is far better than standard radio. Go take your vinyl high horse and shove it cause it has nothing to do with this argument. And for the record, vinyl is terrible from an archival standpoint. The amount of work that you have to put into your records to keep them in top shape is insane compared to a CD, even if the sound quality is better. It's a trade off, not a better or worse scenario.
Its confusing, but HD radio is secondary radio streams (low bit rate I'm told), that is broadcast by existing radio stations. Its confusing because it sounds like High Def, or High Definition (The zune supposedly does 720p).
Not many people have the radios (I don't) so people are confused. They're trying to get them into cars. Its fm's answer to satellite radio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio
There aren't many people who aren't MS fans who think a slab /multi touch / one button PMP isn't just another me too device. It might be good, but its not original.
Be aware of David Gerard:
- Editor at Wikipedia
- Fellow citizen and personal friend of Roy Schestowitz, mastermind at BoycottNovell.
- Wears leather pants and other bondage/goth accesorites with a nipple piercing.
- Married a huge curly-haired bisexual woman who is a goth like himself.
- Spams Slashdot for the purpose of promoting his shitty news and rock websites.
- Creator and owner of disgusting shock websites such as "LemonParty".
- All around douchebag and asshole.
More info will be released later as this document progresses.
"As steve jobs himself stated in their recent iPod announcement, the iPod touch is a portable games console."
Yes, unlike other game consoles you can move it from one TV to another in your pocket! Awesome!
Just when Zune fans think it might dominate, an iPod ships with radio capability - along with the ability to timeshift radio. Can the Zune even do that? And it's so much larger than the Nano.
And instead of an App Store, it gets a few games thrown on it that are iPhone ports from developers whose just couldn't resist the piles of cash thrown at them. Yet those are all the games you'll get with the device...
Honestly until the app store question is resolved you'd have to be mad to get a Zune. Touches are better if you care about video or apps. The nano is better if you want to capture video, use radio or have a super portable player. Sansas are better if you simply want a no-frills player (although it's annoying they don't support unprotected AAC like the Zune and other players do).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Yes, I understand a lot of people who enjoy AstroTurf have been flocking to Slashdot. It's a lot more convenient than traveling to Houston.
Wow. If you want to get people to buy your product, nothing could exude less confidence than,
"Those capabilities will determine whether [...] Microsoft decides to keep selling its own music player."
Wow! Where can I buy a $100+ tech gadget that the manufacturer may wash its hands of real soon? I must have one!
Just like short people, the Zune has got no reason to live.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Fair enough, I agree with that, but it's not a suicide move either, or a sign of non-commitment, as some suggested.
At this point something like the Zune HD, built to compete primarily against the Touch, is a suicide move without an App Store answer. A handful of included 3rd-party apps, is not that answer. The Touch has Need For Speed and Assassins Creed, for crying out loud!
Yes some individual parts seem cool - primarily the OLED screen. But I think at that size it's going to be a pretty marginal improvement over the screens the Touch has today, and it's just not enough to woo away most consumers anymore.
The sign of non-commitment is the lack of will to knock heads together at Microsoft to build that App Store answer today (really, yesterday). In my mind if they were serious about the Zune it would be the flagship for a Microsoft App Store, which would then expand to support the totally redesigned Windows Mobile next year. It's certainly a sexier leader than Windows Mobile.
The problem is the Zune guys have no pull, and Windows Mobile people insist everything begins and ends with them. Since Microsoft has had good success with the 360 it's amazing to me they don't give the consumer products divisions like the Zune more say in the direction things take.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
According to TFA, it's called the 'HD' because it has a built-in HD Radio (whatever that is!?!? Anything like DAB?) and also outputs video at 720p.
720p? That's not HD - 1080p is HD ffs.
I'm sure the most worrying thing for a lot of people is whether or not MS are going to be supporting this device in 12 months time if this is their attitude towards it's launch. If they can't buy apps from anybody else and MS are a bit flaky about what apps they'll release and when, it's not going to convince many people to take the plunge. Let's not forget the absolute panning Apple took when they first said that third party apps for their devices wouldn't be allowed - have MS got such short-term memories or are they perhaps doing what Apple seemed to do and testing the water to gauge public response?
Because they are finally powerful enough to replace laptops for many uses.
I just came back from Europe, on the way over I was flying next to someone who bought a Touch just so she could have email and web support while there, but without the weight of a laptop (she was going on a long biking trip). But she was also using a few applications like language tutorials and so on...
And of course, she could also have music while biking.
You device is fine for you, but it's nice to have devices that can do enough to make laptops a truly optional choice.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It was supposed to be a joke but it was based on a faulty premise (i.e. only TV-connected video game machines are called "consoles".)
The iPhone initially show was in January right after the first Zune came out. I thought "Wow, that's what the Zune SHOULD HAVE BEEN". The Zune might be finally getting there, but now its too late.
Don't get me wrong. The Zune HD is finally turning out to be what it should have been all along. But, it's really not anything different than the iPod Touch and the iPod Touch has a gazillion applications. Well, you say, the original iPhone didn't have an app store, but neither did anyone else. The thing Microsoft must realize is that the Zune has to compete against THIS YEARS iPod Touch.
In marketing, you have something called the "delta". This is the thing that your product has that your competitors don't. When the iPhone came out, the delta was a true to life web browser and easy syncing with your computer. It was the music player/phone/browser that everyone wanted. Since then, everyone has a music player/browser/phone combo. Now, the delta is the app store.
What's the Zune HD's "delta" that will get me to throw out my iPod Touch and line up to buy a Zune? HD Radio? It's hasn't really caught on. OLCD screen? That's a nice touch, but is it that much better than the iPod's screen? The Zune is $10 cheaper? Naw.
Here's what the Zune should have had:
* Compatibility with the XBox. Hey, you got a zillion XBox games, why not make it so they can easily be ported to the Zune?
* Camera that's integrated with Twitter/Facebook/Flickr. It should have spot metering and auto focus. Optical Zoom would be a big plus.
* Multiple platforms. Hey, the Mac now represents 15% of the consumer market. Maybe even more. Why are you immediately dropping that big a chunk of the market? Heck, the songs in iTunes aren't DRMd any more, and there's an API for perusing the catalog, so you don't even have to pull a Palm Pre. Show that you're willing to compete against Apple's home turf. And, don't leave Linux out.
* Work out a deal w/ Sprint a la Kindle for networking. Not necessarily a phone service, but use the Sprint network for your network. And, of course, WiFi.
All of this would have made the Zune something to consider despite having sand kicked into its face and its lunch money taken for the last few years. Now, it's just an also ran iPod look alike. If I want an iPod look alike, I might as well by the real thing.
So, there really are only two main features that the Zune HD has that my original, first-generation Zune does not: HD video and HD radio.
Why should I care about HD video? I only use my media player for music, and even if I did use it for video, 32GB would run out pretty quick if I wanted to store HD movies on it.
HD radio is far inferior to satellite radio, such as Sirius. Sure, you get a high-quality digital signal, but it's only in one area, just like an analog radio signal. If I move too far from the broadcasting tower, I can't pick up the station. But with satellite radio, I can drive all over the country and still get my awesome CD-quality digital audio.
Sorry, Microsoft, I love my Zune (especially with the "Zune Pass"), but I'm not going to shell out $300 just for a touch screen. I've got my iPhone for that, and it has cool applications to boot.
I have a bad feeling about this...
For the record, every time I grab an iPod I feel like I'm prying it from Steve Jobs cold undead hands.
Fixed that for you...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
What does that even mean; "HD"? Clearly to create confusion with the customer since the only HD item is the radio. Confuse consumers with "HD meaning it must be good if it's HD". Well, TV's called HD are better then regular TVs; so a HD Zune must be better then every other MP3/Mini-computer/thingy out there not called HD.
Marginally good marketing name, unimpressive product.
6.8SPC TR of 550, l xwind at 6, drift rt at 26" drops 77". AT has 503 ft-lbs at 1403 fps. FT 0.86
Actually, what has apple done that's so terrible? It strikes me that every single story I hear about the iPhone/iPod is blown massively out of proportion. Both M$ and Apple pushed DRM, but apple gets the shit for it because iTunes is more popular. Apple sometimes bans apps in a seemingly arbitrary manner, but AFAIK M$ doesn't offer any ability to run 3rd party software yet. Which is worse? Well, Apple, because some people actually love Apple and it's funny to make them cry. Otherwise I'd say they were as bad as eachother.
That's coming from someone who uses a mix of Mac, Linux, Windows, and OpenSolaris.
mysql> SELECT * FROM `places` WHERE `place` LIKE 'home`; Empty set (0.00 sec)
It will come with some unique features, though, like an HD radio tuner, and with software that has been well-received by users.
Yeah, all three of them.
Seriously, besides the iPod Touch, the players to beat in the coming year are likely going to be the Android-based MIDs. Zune? I don't think it matters much anymore.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/15/zune-hd-3d-gaming-and-app-downloads-confirmed/
Geez!
You have an Android, it'll play music and video. MicroSD cards probably won't
quite give you the space a Zune has, but you'll only need one device.
You want the Zune to have a radio? Crap, a tiny FM only radio is like $30.
I am so confused?
Update: A bit more is revealed in a Seattle Times Q&A with Brian Seitz, Microsoft's Zune marketing manager. At the moment, the strategy is to keep all the apps and games free and developed in-house or in close collaboration with third parties -- no third-party SDK for devs to freely crank out apps just yet. Seitz is clear that games will be the primary focus of the "sometimes-connected" Zune HD and the Windows Marketplace is Microsoft's priority for handheld app development:
Man, Windows Mobile 7 and the rumored OneApp app store can't get here soon enough.
and sold across the mall hallway from the apple store, which will have customers.
After reading how Gates and Ballmer will not let their children or spouses use Apple iPhones or iPods and that latest bit about a Microsoft employee taking Ballmers picture with an iPhone at an MS group hug...well you just have to know where the first few thousands in sales will come from now don't you. They probably have an old-Zune recycling/crushing machine so people who actually want a Zune can't get a low cost used one. That is how they work right? he he
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Microsoft should just close off Windows like all these other 'platforms'. Make people pay license fees to develop for it. Etc. If people are against this idea, how can they be for company-run app stores, developer license fees for consoles(or closed consoles for that matter), and all of the other rediculous acts going on in the tech world? It IS a very black and white issue. p.s. hardware profitablilty should not factor in.
...
Does anyone actually plan to buy one of these pieces of crap? I have a PC because I need one. I don't have an iPod, iPhone or any other iCrap. My Windows copy is XP cause it's paid for (just to use LabVIEW for work, taxes and Netflix movies). I may not be cool enough for Apple but I'm not stupid enough to buy this garbage.
bob@Osprey:~>
What gets me is that they are eroding storage space...and the Classic, which will probably go away in a year or so
That's what everyone said about the Classic last year. And in fact, the Classic has *gained* storage space in the recent update (updated to 160GB from 120GB). How is that erosion?
The classic will be around just long enough for flash devices to support similar storage and then, it might go away. But it's clear Classic level storage is going to stick around, there are plenty of other people with large libraries of music.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
It will come with some unique features, though, like an HD radio tuner
Hey, I know the pictures are better on Radio, but HD? Wow!
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
Microsoft, apart from the xbox and zune, aren't really into hardware. Mostly, it's Windows, Office and a few other things. One of the first iterations of the .Net framework stated in the license that you could not use it to write a competitor to MS Office.
And that's just one example. Microsoft is the worst of them all, given how long it's been doing this kind of thing. Apple would be as bad as Microsoft if they had the marketshare which they do in the iPod and iPhone space, but not in the Mac space.
When I had a Palm pilot and a cheap nokia, I had two devices in my pocket.
Some people will take a jack of all trades; others want a master of one and a master of another. For example, say I want a handheld computer, and I want a phone. If all available phones fail to meet my requirements, then I will buy a separate handheld computer and phone. For me, the requirements of a low monthly fee and the ability to run free software happen to outweigh the requirement of fewer things in my pocket, which is why I'm waiting for a Pandora PDA.
Actually, MS has tried to implement some Trusted Computing pieces that would do exactly that - restrict what will run so any DRM-broken content can't possibly be played.
Perhaps we could amend your sentence to: "never SUCCESSFULLY locked down..." - because they can't manage to have backward compatibility with all the terrible niche Windows apps and also do things like that.
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