MS CEO Steve Ballmer was in town (NYC) this week for the McGraw-Hill media conference and the large, sweaty and angry man from Redmond revealed some interesting news about his companies most profitable and least profitable hardware offerings.
It’s unclear what Ballmer means when he said there’s a real opportunity for the Xbox to be “more than a console” but something is currently brewing and we’ll be seeing it in a year or sometime in the next 12 months. In all likelihood, we think it will consist of more content offerings than new hardware. NXE was a huge step for Microsoft in turning the Xbox into more of a media center than just a gaming console. But, you never know. They certainly can’t destroy it. Or can they?
So, just a quick heads up for the Zune fans in the crowd. You can now stream audio podcasts directly from Zune.net/Zune Social from your browser. Exciting, I know. But they’re claiming the largest catalog of podcasts available, so that’s a plus for them. And if you’re active on the Zune Forums then you can subscribe to specific topics and have them pop up in your RSS feed. Oh, but there’s one more thing! Zune Social folk can create quizzes and share amongst their Zune Social friends to challenge their music knowledge. Nothing new on the hardware front, though.
When Microsoft started laying folks off in January, we were afraid the Zune might be directly affected; it was. The big wigs at Redmond separated the Zune department into hardware and software teams. The bulk of the developers went into the software and services department where they are headed-up by the same suit that runs Microsoft’s Mediaroom and Media Center TV businesses. Interestingly enough, the hardware geeks are now working with the WinMo guys. We kind of figured it would have been the other way around.
In the face of a 54 percent revenue drop last quarter, there’s been a lot of speculation going around (myself included) as to what’s going to happen with the Microsoft Zune. Microsoft has now come out and said that it has no plans to deep six the hardware or the software and that there will indeed be a new Zune lineup later this year.
An article by Mike Ferro over at Blorge cites Microsoft’s recent quarterly FCC filing of a 54 percent revenue drop in Zune sales and the Redmond giant’s planned layoffs to propose that “It is more than likely that the Zune business will receive a good helping of the layoffs and possibly the end of the Zune as well.”
Microsoft’s Steve Balmer doesn’t know if the Zune is coming or going. The portable media player hasn’t knocked the iPod off its perch in its two-year run, and now Balmer recognizes that it may never.
Earlier today, the sound of thousands of Zune owners crying out in terror made ripples across the blogosphere. The response from Microsoft is to wait until tomorrow and all will be well. You’re probably wondering, what kind of bug fixes itself?
Well, I’ve got the code here and it’s very simple, really; if you’ve taken an introductory programming class, you’ll see the error right away.
It seems that a random bug is affecting a bunch, if not all, 30GB Zunes. Real early this morning, a bunch of Zune 30s just stopped working. No official word from Redmond on this one yet but we might have a gadget Y2K going on here.
Microsoft, you may be quiet about your Zune plans, but we know what you’re up to (sort of). Following the rumor that members of the Zune UI team are moving to the Windows Mobile team, there has been a recent job posting from Dec. 2nd describing the following:
Although we speculated about the possibility of a Zune phone coming soon (and were subsequently shown the error of our ways), the Zune/phone divide is in fact narrowing, as Ballmer said would happen. But it’s not a “port” as he mentioned; rumor has it that members of the Zune UI team are actually moving to the Windows Mobile team, for what nefarious purpose I will let you imagine yourself.
If I had to guess myself, I’d guess that within a few months there will be a somewhat clumsily-implemented Zune-on-WinMo setup that will be polished into a far more usable product by mid-year. A Zune layer on top of the new WinMo? An emphasis on device convergence and a full-featured Zune function on some sweet new phone? Who knows? The Zune team is talented and with luck will be doing more than a simple port job.
I got all riled up last week about the possiblity — really, more of a hope than an expectation — that we might see a Zune phone revealed at CES. Deep down I think I knew I was talking a lot of nonsense, mainly because we know Microsoft isn’t going to abandon Windows Mobile all of a sudden, and we also know they’re planning on expanding Zune-related services to Windows Mobile among other platforms. “Project Pink,” a semi-mysterious project cited in the rumors, is really a set of WinMo-related services, which we will probably see explained further at CES. Dang!
Once upon a time, Zune phone rumors were as thick on the ground as Autumn leaves. But as the inevitable nothing happened, they died down and were replaced by the more interesting Windows 7 rumblings. But now Microsoft is in pole position to announce something like a Zune phone, having pretty much let the whole 7 cat out of the bag and lacking any really compelling major product developments other than the standard stuff. Could this coming January hold the surprise announcement everyone wants to hear?
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Microsoft now has the 120GB Zune available in red and blue. That’s in addition to the standard issue black it’s been available in for a little while now. It’s the same price, $249, so there’s no color tax or anything. (Remember when Apple wanted $150 for the black MacBook?)
Now, maybe if Microsoft whipped out its checkbook and hired a team to get Mac software for the Zune more of us would consider using it; no one is beholden to the iPod here. After all, it’s good enough for Obama, right?
Just when you thought President-Elect Obama could buck the common trend and be his own man by sporting a Zune, a close adviser states he’s an iPod fanboy. Sorry, Zune boys. It looks like your main man isn’t that big of a maverick after all.
Instead, he clarified Obama’s position as an Apple fan and an owner of an iPod, which he most often uses when working out.
Zune or iPod, we don’t care. Everyone already knows that the President-Elect gets his main gadget news from the weekly CrunchGear podcast, which plays fine on both options.
What if — bear with me here — What if this entire election was bought by Microsoft? No, stay with me. They went to Diebold and bought themselves an election, and now the viral starts. First Obama is spotted using a Zune at the gym. Then maybe there are candid shots of him sharing songs with his daughters’ Zune 16s in the presidential limo. Then, come January 20th, he takes the oath, turns to the people, and says:
“Citizens of the United States of America…
Welcome to the social.”
Now that’s change we can believe in.
[via Crave]
Considering the 4GB Zune goes for $100 by itself, I’d say this deal from Newegg is hard to pass up. The 8GB Zune black is also being bundled with the kit at a $10 discount. The rest of the 8GB colors are still $130, but you still get the car accessory kit for free, which is usually sold for $70. Couple that with the new Zune Pass and you’ve got yourself a pretty righteous deal. You better hurry, the deal ends on the 13th.
Newegg
The Zune phone rumor is rearing its nasty Steve Ballmer head again thanks to a CNBC report talking about a device codenamed, “Pink.” Instead of simply dismissing this old rumor again, it might have some truth to it as the mobile world has changed significantly since the last time a ZunePhone rumor circulated. The iPhone is the U.S.’s best selling mobile phone of all time, Google successfully launched the G1, and touchscreen phones are all the rage now. Could a ZunePhone actually make a splash?
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Fresh off the his and hers Dodge Rams CrunchDeal comes a similar deal for his and hers Microsoft Zune players – if you live in Canada, that is. Pick up a manly 16GB Zune at $179 from Best Buy Canada (online only) and you’ll have a soft and sensual 4GB lady Zune added to your cart for free. Not bad… not bad at all.
Microsoft Zune 16GB Portable Media Player [BestBuy.ca via Electronista]
Man, Zunes are getting to be sweeter deals by the minute. The prices just dropped, an update with free games and stuff just hit, and now the $15 Zune Pass that lets you listen to as much music as you want also lets you keep 10 tracks a month. If you’re looking to buy a new media player this holiday season, Zunes are looking better and better.
Microsoft introduced the third generation Zune two months ago and rolled out the 3.1 update today, but electronista has just confirmed that the Zune is dropping in price. How much you ask? The 4GB is getting the biggest drop and will end up with a new MSRP of $99 while the 8GB will now sell for $139. The large-ish 16GB flavor is dropping by $20 to $179. All these prices should go into effect tomorrow, Wednesday, as the iPod vs Zune wars heat back up. The 4GB Zune is tempting now.
