I know our store bought 300 of them for last Christmas, we ended up sending 250 back to the supplier because we only sold 25 and 15 of those were returned by the customers to get iPods.
I'd love to see Jobs start out by giving a little 'help to his friends' and announce the Zune price cut, followed by putting a stack of them on the front of the stage as freebies. Maybe put a little flashing 'blue light' next to them.
The Zune has been selling for $199 for a while at many outlets.
When asked when the Zune would be going to Europe, and the rest of the world, a month or so ago, Ballmer said that doing so at this time would only cost MS more money, and that they wouldn't do that until it became profitable.
Therefore, we may see when, and if, it does become profitable, by MS's international sales policy.
The assumption was that MS was stunned at the last Apple pricing, and was intending to market the Zune for $299 list, but had to drop it to $249 before launch due to Apple's pricing. $249 has been assumed to be a break-even price.
I question whether $199 list will allow MS to recover costs, as not that many have been sold. I've heard the number now might be 1,5 million.
Without any MS bashing it would be pretty hard for them to really take a bite out of the market when its already so saturated with iPods. The Zune isn't all that bad when you compare it to the video ipod except the colors bite, but they just got into the game way too late. Its just when people think of an mp3 player mentally the ipod comes right to the top even more so when cost is not a factor.
It's actually too bad I know alot of Apple faithful just hang on to iPod market share for dear life but im a fan of competition, it would have been nice to see the ipod have a little heat to help move it along, same goes on the OS side I would love to see Os X with about 50% of the market share, competition always ends up helping the end user.
The Zune has been selling for $199 for a while at many outlets.
When asked when the Zune would be going to Europe, and the rest of the world, a month or so ago, Ballmer said that doing so at this time would only cost MS more money, and that they wouldn't do that until it became profitable.
Therefore, we may see when, and if, it does become profitable, by MS's international sales policy.
The assumption was that MS was stunned at the last Apple pricing, and was intending to market the Zune for $299 list, but had to drop it to $249 before launch due to Apple's pricing. $249 has been assumed to be a break-even price.
I question whether $199 list will allow MS to recover costs, as not that many have been sold. I've heard the number now might be 1,5 million.
Because the XBox at 6.5 Billion negative and counting has been so profitable for them, already?
Clearly, he's being cautious with his place. He can't continue to have high profile losses and expect to keep his day job, even if Gates is chairman.
I know our store bought 300 of them for last Christmas, we ended up sending 250 back to the supplier because we only sold 25 and 15 of those were returned by the customers to get iPods.
Ballmer: I think we should advertise "We have the fewest returned mp3 players"
Gates: I guess I have heard that one-liner somewhere, dont know where!
Customer: AT&T, stupid moron. You want to copy them?! Huh!
I'd love to see Jobs start out by giving a little 'help to his friends' and announce the Zune price cut, followed by putting a stack of them on the front of the stage as freebies. Maybe put a little flashing 'blue light' next to them.
I bought the Zune on opening day with high hopes and promptly learned my lesson. It could've been so much more. So now I eagerly await today's announcements with wallet in hand.
My Zune will go to my wife. As a standalone media player it works fine, so she'll be happy with that.
Without any competition, then Apple will become a company without any incentive to bring new technology to the market and to lower prices.
The incentive is the threat of competition...as well as additional revenue through expanding the market through a broad range of products to meet different users' needs (Shuffle vs. Nano vs. video iPod)
Every week there's a new article about Company X's latest "iPod Killier" but Apple remains on top in part because they are not resting on their proverbial laurels. A good example is the iPod Nano. A lot of people thought they were crazy when they launched the Nano because it replaced the iPod Mini, which at the time was their best-selling model. Apple apparently sees the windom of cannibalizing oneself before the competition does.
Guys, I'm kidding--it's just very hard for me to believe that people can talk like that, and that a company with such resources and supposedly intelligent people can be so crazy-sounding.
The fanboys around here aren't known for their sense of humor.
You have to give Microsoft credit for the clever marketing strategy. They just bought themselves a ton of free advertising, as every news story today will be something along the lines of "Apple released new iPods today, etc. etc. etc. …And in related news, Microsoft also dropped the price of it's Zune music player to $200."
"Been on the books for months" my a$$. It may have been, but the timing of the announcement is far from coincidental.
What else can they do? Microsoft knows that the iPod Touch and new lineup is going to club the Zune like a baby harp seal... all they can do in response is price cut, make a conveniently-timed press release about it, and then curl up in the fetal position.
Poor Microsoft. You almost feel sorry for 'em. Except of course, you don't, because they're Microsoft.
That wasn't quite true. That interview was not only had an incorrect transcript, that transcript was often misinterpreted.
"A lot of folks asked me over the weekend about this article in the S.F. Chronicle. Robbie was actually misquoted - you can find an actual recording of the interview here.
So for the record, we haven't made any official announcements on our sales numbers. We are on track, though, to sell one million devices before the end of the fiscal year (June 30). In addition, we've achieved our goal of being the number 2 player in the hard-drive category. "
We haven't heard a peep from them, so it's anyone's guess that the milestone was achieved or not. I think it may be the first time that I've heard of them being happy with a #2 spot.
Good catch. Though I think its funny that anyone even CARES if MS met its goal of selling 1 million Zunes, considering that in the same span Apple easily sold 25 million or more iPods.
Isn't a bit like congratulating a toddler for making poopy in the toilet for the first time? \
Comments
I know our store bought 300 of them for last Christmas, we ended up sending 250 back to the supplier because we only sold 25 and 15 of those were returned by the customers to get iPods.
Ouch. Ouch.
The Zune has been selling for $199 for a while at many outlets.
When asked when the Zune would be going to Europe, and the rest of the world, a month or so ago, Ballmer said that doing so at this time would only cost MS more money, and that they wouldn't do that until it became profitable.
Therefore, we may see when, and if, it does become profitable, by MS's international sales policy.
The assumption was that MS was stunned at the last Apple pricing, and was intending to market the Zune for $299 list, but had to drop it to $249 before launch due to Apple's pricing. $249 has been assumed to be a break-even price.
I question whether $199 list will allow MS to recover costs, as not that many have been sold. I've heard the number now might be 1,5 million.
Without any MS bashing it would be pretty hard for them to really take a bite out of the market when its already so saturated with iPods. The Zune isn't all that bad when you compare it to the video ipod except the colors bite, but they just got into the game way too late. Its just when people think of an mp3 player mentally the ipod comes right to the top even more so when cost is not a factor.
It's actually too bad I know alot of Apple faithful just hang on to iPod market share for dear life but im a fan of competition, it would have been nice to see the ipod have a little heat to help move it along, same goes on the OS side I would love to see Os X with about 50% of the market share, competition always ends up helping the end user.
The Zune has been selling for $199 for a while at many outlets.
When asked when the Zune would be going to Europe, and the rest of the world, a month or so ago, Ballmer said that doing so at this time would only cost MS more money, and that they wouldn't do that until it became profitable.
Therefore, we may see when, and if, it does become profitable, by MS's international sales policy.
The assumption was that MS was stunned at the last Apple pricing, and was intending to market the Zune for $299 list, but had to drop it to $249 before launch due to Apple's pricing. $249 has been assumed to be a break-even price.
I question whether $199 list will allow MS to recover costs, as not that many have been sold. I've heard the number now might be 1,5 million.
Because the XBox at 6.5 Billion negative and counting has been so profitable for them, already?
Clearly, he's being cautious with his place. He can't continue to have high profile losses and expect to keep his day job, even if Gates is chairman.
I know our store bought 300 of them for last Christmas, we ended up sending 250 back to the supplier because we only sold 25 and 15 of those were returned by the customers to get iPods.
Ballmer: I think we should advertise "We have the fewest returned mp3 players"
Gates: I guess I have heard that one-liner somewhere, dont know where!
Customer: AT&T, stupid moron. You want to copy them?! Huh!
I'd love to see Jobs start out by giving a little 'help to his friends' and announce the Zune price cut, followed by putting a stack of them on the front of the stage as freebies. Maybe put a little flashing 'blue light' next to them.
Ya know, I'd pay to see that. Comedy gold!
*
I bought the Zune on opening day with high hopes and promptly learned my lesson. It could've been so much more. So now I eagerly await today's announcements with wallet in hand.
My Zune will go to my wife. As a standalone media player it works fine, so she'll be happy with that.
Nothing says "I love you" like Zune.
My Zune will go to my wife.
Man, that's just mean.
Without any competition, then Apple will become a company without any incentive to bring new technology to the market and to lower prices.
The incentive is the threat of competition...as well as additional revenue through expanding the market through a broad range of products to meet different users' needs (Shuffle vs. Nano vs. video iPod)
Every week there's a new article about Company X's latest "iPod Killier" but Apple remains on top in part because they are not resting on their proverbial laurels. A good example is the iPod Nano. A lot of people thought they were crazy when they launched the Nano because it replaced the iPod Mini, which at the time was their best-selling model. Apple apparently sees the windom of cannibalizing oneself before the competition does.
Guys, I'm kidding--it's just very hard for me to believe that people can talk like that, and that a company with such resources and supposedly intelligent people can be so crazy-sounding.
The fanboys around here aren't known for their sense of humor.
The fanboys around here aren't known for their sense of humor.
You mean you actually have one?!
You have to give Microsoft credit for the clever marketing strategy. They just bought themselves a ton of free advertising, as every news story today will be something along the lines of "Apple released new iPods today, etc. etc. etc. …And in related news, Microsoft also dropped the price of it's Zune music player to $200."
"Been on the books for months" my a$$. It may have been, but the timing of the announcement is far from coincidental.
What else can they do? Microsoft knows that the iPod Touch and new lineup is going to club the Zune like a baby harp seal... all they can do in response is price cut, make a conveniently-timed press release about it, and then curl up in the fetal position.
Poor Microsoft. You almost feel sorry for 'em. Except of course, you don't, because they're Microsoft.
.
That wasn't quite true. That interview was not only had an incorrect transcript, that transcript was often misinterpreted.
"A lot of folks asked me over the weekend about this article in the S.F. Chronicle. Robbie was actually misquoted - you can find an actual recording of the interview here.
So for the record, we haven't made any official announcements on our sales numbers. We are on track, though, to sell one million devices before the end of the fiscal year (June 30). In addition, we've achieved our goal of being the number 2 player in the hard-drive category. "
http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/...e-players.aspx
The correct quote:
"When we finish our fiscal year in June we'll have sold a little over a million Zunes."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MICROSOFT.TMP
We haven't heard a peep from them, so it's anyone's guess that the milestone was achieved or not. I think it may be the first time that I've heard of them being happy with a #2 spot.
Good catch. Though I think its funny that anyone even CARES if MS met its goal of selling 1 million Zunes, considering that in the same span Apple easily sold 25 million or more iPods.
Isn't a bit like congratulating a toddler for making poopy in the toilet for the first time?
.
The only possibility is if Microsoft now has 1 million employees... and even so, I doubt.
I never saw a single person using a Zune.
Zune Zucks!