Zune MP3 player is a dud

On Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Microsoft released the Zune player… its answer to the iPod. Sales were less than spectacular. Stores were stocked but nobody was buying. The all-mighty Zune, Microsoft’s “iPod Killer” came onto the scene with a whimper. People passed it over. Walked right by the flashy colorful displays that welcomed them to join the ‘Social’. Why did the Zune fail? Simple.
The Zune’s target is the iPod market. Twenty-something year olds… teens… people interested in music and good times. People who want to go to a party. A PARTY. When was the last time someone used the term ‘social’ to describe a ‘party’? I’ll tell you when… 1953. Who does the market research for Microsoft… Ward Cleaver?? No self-respecting young person is going to attend a social. And another thing… what’s the deal with the colors?
Brown. What fun and exciting things are brown? None, that’s what. Man oh man, I can’t wait to attend the social with my brown MP3 player in hand. I would certainly be the cat’s meow if that were the case.
Microsoft’s answer to this sounds more like an excuse than a rational and believable explanation. They say that they never intended on becoming a major market leader in the MP3 player market, but merely a small competitor… someone who can offer an alternative to the iPod. I call bullshit. They wanted to dominate the market with their iPod killer and they failed miserably.
Basically what we have here is Microsoft trying to tackle a market where they had no hope of succeeding. They tried. They failed. Now they are scrambling to recover from their colossal mistake.

Link to Story