

R.I.P. Microsoft Zune, 2006-2011 - thankuz
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/14/r-i-p-microsoft-zune-2006-2011/

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pavlov
The Zune served its purpose as a closed mobile platform where Microsoft could
practice vertical integration.

Windows Phone 7 is essentially the Zune Phone. In five years, it managed to
evolve from an ugly brown brick of a media player to a sophisticated
smartphone platform adopted wholesale by the world's leading phone
manufacturer.

From that perspective, Zune looks like a significant R&D success, even if the
last chapter in its story was more due to Nokia's resounding failures at
software development rather than the platform's absolute merits.

~~~
michaelcampbell
> a sophisticated smartphone platform adopted wholesale by the world's leading
> phone manufacturer.

"Wholesale adoption" must mean something different than what I was taught,
since Nokia was paid a cool billion to take WP7.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-will-pay-
nokia-1-bi...](http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-will-pay-
nokia-1-billion-for-phone-deal-2011-3)

~~~
kooshball
The cool billion was just the up front fee, Nokia still has to pay licensing
fee.

from your article, "Nokia will have to sell more than 60 million phones, as
Microsoft is estimated to charge no more than $15 per handset for Windows
Phone."

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thought_alarm
I don't understand this move. Virtually every ASP.NET programmer I know has a
Zune and absolutely loves it. Almost universally, they consider the Zune to be
one of the best gadgets they own.

Microsoft is making a big mistake here.

~~~
shaggyfrog
Too bad the general population is not a majority of ASP.NET programmers.

Not sure what you don't understand about the move, though. Simply put, the
thing just isn't selling. Maybe it's the terrible marketing, maybe it's the
choice of verbs to describe the functionality ("squirting"... really?), maybe
it's fact that PlaysForSure couldn't play on it, maybe it's because the
software delivered a sub-par performance (at least in the minds of consumers)
versus iTunes.

Or maybe it's all of that, combined.

~~~
SandB0x
The "squirting" absolutely killed me. A word you don't want to put through
corporate content filters and a word that systems like Google's autocomplete
won't complete. The conversation must have gone something like like:

Clueless Boss: I think we should call the lending feature: Squirting!

Embarrassed Subordinate: Uh...are you _sure_ that's a good word?

Boss: It's great, really pushes the fun, playful image we're after. I love it!

Subordinate: It's just that it...

Boss: Yes?

Subordinate: It means...It, uh, I mean...yeesh, I'm going to go grab some
lunch. <runs>

Boss: Cool, squirt you later!

~~~
sixtofour
"Squirt! Say it! Say it!"

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r00fus
Given the pressure to the WinTel dominance by ARM, Apple, Google and the web
in general, it's clear that it's fish-or-cut-bait time at Microsoft.

Zune is being cut as it was never profitable and executed poorly. I imagine MS
is looking at a whole lot of other departments that aren't pulling their
weight.

This is yet another sign of the end of the PC(1) era.

1: PC's aren't going away, but it is no longer king.

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DanielBMarkham
Meta nit: Bloomberg broke this story. Seems to me like we should be linking to
them instead of a 1-paragraph rewrite on TC

[http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/microsoft-said-
to-s...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-14/microsoft-said-to-stop-
releasing-new-zune-models-as-demand-ebbs.html)

~~~
smithbits
I thought Penny Arcade broke this back in 2007 with the piece "The Microsoft
Zune: 2006-2006" <http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/01/10/>

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smackfu
Not surprised. The future of media players is definitely going to be split
between smart phones and the $30 bottom end.

~~~
joebananas
Well, the media player market right now is currently split between Apple and
the $30 bottom end.

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Griever
Very sad news. As I've posted here before, I own a Zune and love it. The Zune
software on Windows is terrific and I use it instead of Winamp/WMP/Foobar/etc
by choice.

Hopefully they open-source it so the community can keep it alive.

~~~
dflock
Wow. Cognitive Dissonance.

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michaeldhopkins
That is too bad. As a consumer, I want as much competition as possible.

I predicted that Microsoft would turn Zune into a phone like Apple did with
the iPod. This was before the Nokia mess.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Apple didn't turn the iPod into a phone. The iPhone is derived from the iPad
[0]. Later, they created the iPod touch from the iPhone.

Before the iPhone, there were several Moto phones with iTunes integration [1],
but those were less than successful (and frankly, horrible to use).

[0] [http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/06/02/steve-jobs-the-
ipad-c...](http://thenextweb.com/apple/2010/06/02/steve-jobs-the-ipad-concept-
came-before-the-iphone/)

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_ROKR_E1>

~~~
michaeldhopkins
I understand your technical point, but the iPhone followed up on iPod features
and when it was announced, the concept was sold and received as if it was the
future of iPods. (And it was.)

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rome
Does Windows Phone have Zune's functionality?

~~~
kenjackson
Yes

