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Zune's No iPod: Seems the Verdict
Techtree News Staff, Nov 15, 2006 1717 hrs ISTMicrosoft's most eagerly awaited "iPod killer" opened to a rather slow response from shoppers in particular, and the market in general.
Microsoft's most eagerly awaited "iPod killer" opened to a rather slow response from shoppers in particular, and the market in general.
The Zune portable music player hit US store shelves yesterday, but initial shopper response turned out to be something of a 'mixed bag'.
Following reports, two retail outlets; namely, the Virgin Megastore and CompUSA, did not even have Zune on their shelves.
While a Virgin spokesperson said that they had Zunes in stock, but that the players were not the right fit for the store's shelves; a spokesperson for CompUSA said that the store was supposed to get the new media players, but that somehow the Zunes got delayed.
Radio Shack's Assistant Manager went a step further. He said that the store is not scheduled to sell Zunes yet.
Best Buy of course, was a different story altogether...
Bagwell, General Manager of Best Buy, said that while typically, customers do not drop by till later in the afternoon, on Nov 14, there was a steady stream of interested buyers (mostly men) just before lunchtime.
Bagwell expressed the view that customers seemed to have 'gift giving' on their minds. Reportedly, they touched and tapped on Zune displays, asking store staff about possible differences between Microsoft's Zune and Apple Computer's iPod.
Bagwell thought the Zune was doing pretty well - better than what he expected!
At the end of the day, going by a cross-section of customer responses, Zune's larger screen and ease-of-use seem to be the focal points of attraction. However, many customers seemed concerned about the inadequate storage (30GB).
Microsoft's Zune comes with a 30GB hard drive for saving music files, and connects to an online music store titled 'the Zune Marketplace', which is again tipped to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store.
The Zune sells for $249, which happens to also be the price of an iPod with similar sized memory.
On its part, Microsoft says the huge investment on Zune may take years to bear fruit. Analysts too feel that the Zune will not be able to challenge the iPod - not just yet - not this holiday season and through a good part of 2007...
The Zune portable music player hit US store shelves yesterday, but initial shopper response turned out to be something of a 'mixed bag'.
Following reports, two retail outlets; namely, the Virgin Megastore and CompUSA, did not even have Zune on their shelves.
While a Virgin spokesperson said that they had Zunes in stock, but that the players were not the right fit for the store's shelves; a spokesperson for CompUSA said that the store was supposed to get the new media players, but that somehow the Zunes got delayed.
Radio Shack's Assistant Manager went a step further. He said that the store is not scheduled to sell Zunes yet.
Best Buy of course, was a different story altogether...
Bagwell, General Manager of Best Buy, said that while typically, customers do not drop by till later in the afternoon, on Nov 14, there was a steady stream of interested buyers (mostly men) just before lunchtime.
Bagwell expressed the view that customers seemed to have 'gift giving' on their minds. Reportedly, they touched and tapped on Zune displays, asking store staff about possible differences between Microsoft's Zune and Apple Computer's iPod.
Bagwell thought the Zune was doing pretty well - better than what he expected!
At the end of the day, going by a cross-section of customer responses, Zune's larger screen and ease-of-use seem to be the focal points of attraction. However, many customers seemed concerned about the inadequate storage (30GB).
Microsoft's Zune comes with a 30GB hard drive for saving music files, and connects to an online music store titled 'the Zune Marketplace', which is again tipped to compete with Apple's iTunes Music Store.
The Zune sells for $249, which happens to also be the price of an iPod with similar sized memory.
On its part, Microsoft says the huge investment on Zune may take years to bear fruit. Analysts too feel that the Zune will not be able to challenge the iPod - not just yet - not this holiday season and through a good part of 2007...
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Satya.M
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