We’ve been waiting patiently for the Zune, Microsoft’s iPod rival, to get a UK release, but with the recent layoffs at the big M, critics are starting to wonder if the Zune brand will even survive long enough to ever hit the UK.
Microsoft’s first company-wide redundancies this month were ominous enough, but recent reports paint a much more dire picture for Zune than many first realised. Redmond’s recent filings for the last quarter show Zune sales spiralled down 54% over the same period the year before, while the recent mass death of Zune 30GB models with the turn of the new year hardly helped please existing customers.
As one tech critic put it: “Microsoft, by now, should be realizing that it’s never going to be as “cool” as Apple, so why waste its time with the Zune where it has no competitive advantage?”
Sound words indeed. So, while America gets the Zune, then another Zune, we get may never get more than zilch. And Apple continues to make bigger and bigger profits. We’ll get an obit prepared for this one, but what do you reckon? Will Microsoft ever release Zune here? Pen your thoughts down below.
(Via Slashdot)
Frankly, I think Microsoft would be better off foucusing on what they are good at .. or used to be good at – producing computer software.
They have taken their eye off the ball and are trying to compete with the Apple’s and Google’s of the world in areas where they are not strong, spending millions in the process and getting little in return.
As a result, you get a lousy product like Vista while Microsoft tries its hand at hardware, search engines, online ads etc! Come on Microsoft, get back to what you are good at.