Zune: It's Not a Fire Sale, Yet
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Some retailers have started discounting Microsoft's Zune, in a sign that slow sales are taking up vital shelf space. |
Sunday's Staples online circular offers the Zune discounted from its regular $249.99 price to $199.99. A random sampling of local circulars, including suburban Washington, D.C., and Seattle, turned up the sales price. Circuit City discounts Zune to $219.99.
"A Staples that doesn't even have iPods was looking to get some traction in a category that was clearly growing," Baker said. Staples may want to clear inventory to make room for something else, he added.
Microsoft had set a goal of selling 1 million Zunes by June, which will "cause some pressure for the retailers to clear that shelf," Baker emphasized.
By comparison, Apple sold more than 10 million iPods in the first quarter. Microsoft launched Zune in November and has struggled to drive up the sales numbers.
"A million is going to be pretty tough by June," Baker said. "A million is probably a good number to shoot for. It's a nice, round number. But it's not going to be a dent into Apple. I hope that wasn't one of [Microsoft's] goals, because they're not going to put a dent into Apple."
Personal aside, Santa brought a Zune for Christmas, and I like the music player. Sure, Zune isn't iPod, but it's not really trying to be, either. Zune gets its knocks by comparison to iPod, particularly for size. Those comparisons don't make Zune a bad music player. The Zune is a surprisingly good music player.
But it's lonely using Zune. Microsoft's "Welcome to the Social" tagline doesn't mean much if there is no one to socialize with. Maybe Microsoft needs to open up its social circle. For example, how about adding a facility to scrobble music to Last.fm over Wi-Fi?
Related Posts
- What Apple DRM-Free Means to Microsoft, Microsoft Watch, April 2, 2007
- Where's the 'You' in iPhone?, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 10, 2007
- Whoa, Zune Is Social, Microsoft Watch, Jan. 1, 2007
- Welcome to My Social, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 25, 2006
- Zune Chips Away at iPod, Microsoft Watch, Dec. 18, 2006
- Microsoft's Music Madness, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 27, 2006
- Zune Goes to War, Microsoft Watch, Nov. 14, 2006
Comments (10)
at it again, everyone is talking about silverlight and there you go again bashing at microsoft. you obviously dont have any thing interesting to say probably because you dont have a clue about anything else that actually means something.
Posted by nadim | April 30, 2007 1:56 PM
I agree with the first comment.
Hey Joe, you are superman of biased reporting - but that doesn't matter as it looks like no one takes you seriously, by the way.
Write something about silverlight service which MS is going to introduce.
And by the way if you feel discouting product is sign of slow sale... what do you think about Apple TV ????
http://blogs.business2.com/apple/2007/04/apple_tv_on_sal.html
Posted by DD | April 30, 2007 2:11 PM
DD writes: "And by the way if you feel discouting product is sign of slow sale... what do you think about Apple TV"
The Microsoft community is always comparing Microsoft's moves to Apple's. It sends a signal of insecurity.
Posted by HG | April 30, 2007 3:42 PM
what? Microsoft is subsidizing the Zune like they've done to the WindowsCE/PocketPC/nameOfTheDay? Shame on them. I can't imagine how they will even touch Apples success with the iPod if they are unwilling to start paying people to use their product.
How can they really be serious about this? ;-)
iPod killer? Yea, right.
Posted by bg | April 30, 2007 3:55 PM
Joe must have a field day when HP or Dell offer a sale. Typical EWeek misinformation about anything to do with MSFT. Such insight from a mag that has such a high subscription rate ($0.00) Guess you get what you pay for.
Posted by Tom | April 30, 2007 5:52 PM
A marginal product, poorly marketed, is losing $$$ hand over fist as Ballmer and his boys party on. What else is new? H&E has netted over $5 billion in losses for MSFT shareholders, but the board of directors keeps the same bozos in charge. What's next, a Microsoft-branded camcorder?
Posted by JTR | April 30, 2007 6:41 PM
OK, will all the Microsoft astoturfers please raise their hand.
You know there's a great web site where you can find nothing but love songs to Microsoft products--it's URL is: http://microsoft.com
Posted by Just a drone | May 1, 2007 11:03 AM
nadim:
"at it again, everyone is talking about silverlight and there you go again bashing at microsoft."
Nobody is talking about Silverlight outside of Microsoft blogs. It's yet another announced technology platform that will be forgotten by next year. Microsoft announces these things every summer to spam the market with APIs to make you dependent on their development tools.
Posted by bonch | May 2, 2007 1:33 PM
Zune like Vista is a product not driven by customer desire or demand, but by Microsoft marketing trying to ensnare the consumer market into the noose of DRM. No sane person wants to have their media content/software/hardware clogged up with this draconian copyright management crap.
Zune is a toshiba clone as microsoft has no creative abilities, and Vista is a bastard child of XP and OSX with as much DRM as you can stuff in an OS and still get it to boot in under 15 minutes.
Microsoft feels its dominant market status allows it to release any junk it wants and people will buy it. Because of the mindset of folks in Redmond, Microsoft will be taught in business schools for years to come as an example of how a juggernaut destroys itself.
Posted by Jerry Fastelein | May 6, 2007 11:07 AM
Who is this "Baker" who gets quoted in this article? He is never identified.
Posted by Joe Shlabotnick | May 11, 2007 4:34 PM