Zune was launched last week by Microsoft and considering that it is Microsoft’s first portable media player it has ever launched we don’t blaim MS for making a big fuss. Zune is suppose to conquer the market for portable media player which then of course means that it is a direct competitor for the supreme market leader iPod. But there are far more manufacturers that Microsoft has to battle and the question is how big of a chance Zune really has to succeed. At Betanews they’ve published an article where they walk you through Zune’s chances and speculate in everything from the use of DRM with Zune Marketplace, to the price of the player and even the media sold at Microsoft’s Marketplace store.
Even if it is impossible to make any conclusions before Zune has really had a chance to show what it can do, or even arrive on the market, they believe the situation will be similar to the one Microsoft’s had with the first Xbox. Microsoft knows that Apple and iPod is very much dependent on its popular brand and now many are starting to believe that the first generation of Zune will more or less be a gateway for Microsoft onto the market and the start of a hype of the Zune concept. This can may very well mean that it is going for an aggressive pricing, as Microsoft has shown at several occasions that it is not afraid to take short term hits. Instead, the second generation of Zune will be the real player, a bit like what it did with Xbox 360 where it continued to use Xbox’ name and marketing.
“I think it might be a case of Microsoft holding things back so that they can continue to send a stream of innovation into the market with subsequent releases…In order to accomplish that, they will spend whatever it takes. And let’s face it, Microsoft can afford to outspend pretty much all of its competitors in the market, even Apple.”
How Microsoft’s Zune plan really looks will most likely not be revealed for quite a while, but there is quite a lot on stake here and at least one thing is for certain. You can never dismiss the software giant as it has managed to create many attractive solutions on seemingly hard markets.
