Zune = Dead (soon)
Apr 10th, 2009 by dave
I just can’t help myself. When I see news articles pointing out how dismally the Zune, as well as other non-iPod MP3 players are doing in the marketplace, I just have to mention it. Here’s the latest, reported by The Technologizer:
Time Running Out for iPod Competitors
By Ed Oswald | Posted at 12:00 pm on Friday, April 10, 2009
If anything was evidence that Apple’s iPod is ready to be the de-facto digital music device, the latest survey of teens by financial research firm Piper Jaffray should be it. Of the 606 teens surveyed (54 percent male, 46 percent female), those planning to buy a player all responded they were considering Apple’s iconic device.
About one out of every five teens are planning to buy a new music player in the next 12 months, down from 34 percent in the fall survey. Of that group, 100% say an iPod.
For whatever reason, Zune’s share has collapsed — probably due to the fact the players have gone without any update for quite awhile. In the fall, 15 percent said they were considering a Zune. If this is true, Microsoft may find itself being forced out of the digital music player market as the youth is what drives this industry.
There really isn’t much untapped potential here either: 92 percent of teens own a player, up from 87 percent in the last survey. So even if this is exaggerated, the growth potential is slipping away for Microsoft — I’ve often heard them argue about the untapped market as its salvation.
I just can’t see with the increasing amount of negative data for Zune how it is worthwhile for the company to stay in the market. We are hearing that the wagons are circling in Redmond and talks are ongoing with partners on the next Zune model, which should come out in the fall if what we are hearing is correct.
However, will it even be worth it?
So, if 100% say they’ll buy an iPod, that leaves what? About 0% for Microsoft. Yeah, that’s about dead on. Maybe just dead.
Maybe Microsoft should sweeten the deal for the folks doing the “shopping for a PC” ads right now. They could tell them something like, “We’ll give you a free Zune if you don’t buy an Apple laptop!” Now that’s, er, incentive.
Better yet, maybe Microsoft could adapt the same ads that they’re running right now, but shift the buying target to MP3 players. They could have the “person on the street” (not a real actor, except for Lauren) go around to stores and shop based on price alone. I could really enjoy watching this concept fall completely flat on its face! People don’t buy such items based on the features/price ratio alone. They will with commodities, but not with personal items like these.
Then, of course, there’s the whole ecosystem (iTunes store, etc.) that you get with an iPod that is sorely missing from the Zune experience. Microsoft has never been able to deliver on their slogan, “Welcome to the Social!”. They’ve proven that they actually don’t understand the social part of iPod ownership at all, and they are very close to completely missing this point with laptop and mobile phone devices as well.