Zune, the RoseArt of Multimedia Players
I live for a good rivalry! Coke and Pepsi. PlayStation and Xbox. Patti and Aretha. iPod and Zune… hmmm not so much. While products can be comparable, it does not always create competition. Microsoft learned this lesson when releasing the Zune in November 2006 and going belly up only a few short years later. Microsoft had the revenue, access to hardware development, a massive marketing campaign and licensing agreements with four of the largest music labels. All the things they thought they needed to get a large part of the iPod market.
Where did they go wrong? I have a few ideas.
Apple had a massive head start on the multimedia player market. At the time of Zunes launch, Apple had already sold well over 100 million iPods (Time.com). That’s over 100 million people who had several years to collect music, build libraries and integrate this product in their lives. If it aint broke don’t fix it ya know?
Apple has also long been known as the cool guys of the tech industry. There was a sense of exclusivity that came along with that. While many people may not have been ready to switch to Apple products all together, the iPod appealed to customers who wanted a piece of that action. Let’s be real, those white earbuds were 100% a flex on people still carrying around portable CD players.
With those factors in play Zune was fighting an uphill battle that they eventually lost. I mean who wants RoseArt when Crayola been killing the game?