I’m sure a lot of you readers out there have had it with the
Zune vs. iPod war, or the iTunes vs. URGE
vs. Live Marketplace vs…whatever. I‘ve had it too.
But I thought I’d
better annoy you again with one of those brilliant analyses (…) about… Zune vs.
iPod and why Microsoft might lose the battle
with Apple and so on…Please bear with me, for I’m no fan of Microsoft or Apple,
I don’t have any market shares of any of the two giants, and I don’t have an
iPod.
But what actually determined me to throw darts at Zune again (with
the risk of pissing you off) is Microsoft’s lack of originality. They definitely
could have made Zune better, whether it’s the looks of it or its features. At
this moment Zune is merely a mouse chasing a big, hungry
cat.
If Microsoft thinks Zune will defeat the iPod-iTunes duality they
are clearly wrong. An MP3 player built at Redmond should
not only be the expected iPod-killer but the device that would reshape the face
of digital entertainment. And to be honest, Zune is definitely not. A copycat,
maybe.
Why should Microsoft build something that should revolutionize
digital music? Simply because a giant of its size cannot dethrone another giant
(Apple) by copying the other’s success-recipe. Microsoft is well known for its
innovations, which have created entire consumer markets and have ensured the
company a dominant position, and it should stick to this mentality of inventing
rather than copying if they are to succeed in the MP3 market. Otherwise, they
might end up being associated with the rival (the “iPod-killer” rings a bell?)
and they’ll fail at removing the rival’s product out of customers’ mind.
That means that when a customer wants to buy a Redmond-manufactured MP3
player they are going to make at least one comparison: is it or is it not better
than the iPod? And do you think Microsoft officials are going to be happy about
that?
A simple analogy could explain the potential that Microsoft didn’t
use when creating the Zune player:PSP vs. Nintendo DS. Although it was a risky bet for Nintendo to release an unusual, dual screen, portable gaming console, the Japanese company now boasts with the fact that DS sells are stellar
in its main markets (in Japan for example DS outsells PSP by a factor of five to one) despite its poorer capabilities compared to the PSP. Not to mention the weird name Wii that Nintendo chose for its next-gen console, name which attracted a lot of laughs and criticism at the beginning, but which definitely attracted attention upon it and made it one of the most expected gadgets this
year, toping even PS3.
According to recently released CESA figures, Nintendo sold 4.25 million DS units during 2005, while Sony shifted only 2.61 million PSPs.
How did Nintendo manage to come on top after being
considered the outsider? Well, by being original and by investigating new possibilities in the older markets or by creating markets (games specially designed for girls or for elderly people).
Microsoft chose not to learn
from Nintendo’s example and this could just be the trigger for Zune’s failure.
Although every gaming site or revue designates Wii as the gadget most likely to
be acquired during the Christmas shopping season by parents (due to its price
and…originality), I haven’t seen many positive reviews regarding this matter for
Zune. The lack of details about features and capabilities maybe? No, because the
same applies for Wii too. Zune just doesn’t make users enthusiastic. And you can’t blame them …
There is nothing that new and revolutionary that would
make Zune’s target population wait in lines at stores like they did with Xbox
360 in November 2005. To me, Zune seems like some sort of iPod built at Redmond.
But not at all an iPod killer.
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