Microsoft exec says Zune software coming to the Mac
In an effort not to discourage Mac users from adopting one of its new Windows Phone 7 handsets, Microsoft will reportedly deploy later this a year the first version of its Zune media software targeted at Apple users.
The revelation was briefly made public in a Twitter post from Microsoft UK?s head of Windows Phone marketing, Oded Ran, before it was quickly deleted, presumably because the executive jumped the gun.
"ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm glad to confirm that Mac users would be able to use Zune on their Macs to sync with #WP7," said the tweet. "More details soon."
Similar to the relationship between Apple's iTunes and the iPhone, Microsoft's Zune software will be the only method Windows Phone 7 users have to sync media, photos, music, and videos to and from their PC.
It was previously presumed that the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would offer offer Mac users a small application to handle syncing only of their phones, but the latest revelation suggests a more feature-rich offering is in the cards, possibly to rival iTunes.
The nine Windows Phone 7 handsets introduced by Microsoft this week are the first to offer the Zune music experience on a phone, allowing users to play their music collection, synced wirelessly from their PC, or stream or download new tunes from the Windows Marketplace.
Many industry-watchers believe the new Windows Phone 7 platform represents Microsoft's last chance to make inroads in the modern mobile space, which is quickly falling into the hands of rivals Apple, Google and Research in Motion.
The first Windows Phone 7 handsets will be available in parts of Europe and Asia on October 21st before making their way to the U.S. market on November 8. Any formal announcement of Zune software for Mac would likely need to precede those launches, meaning more news should become available within the next week.
For Microsoft, its Zune franchise faces an uphill climb. Although the first Zune media players made their debut back in November of 2006, recent data from NPD has the players occupying a paltry 2% share of the global market. By comparison, Apple's iPod maintains well over a 70% share and is the leading digital music player in every major market within which it participates.
The revelation was briefly made public in a Twitter post from Microsoft UK?s head of Windows Phone marketing, Oded Ran, before it was quickly deleted, presumably because the executive jumped the gun.
"ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm glad to confirm that Mac users would be able to use Zune on their Macs to sync with #WP7," said the tweet. "More details soon."
Similar to the relationship between Apple's iTunes and the iPhone, Microsoft's Zune software will be the only method Windows Phone 7 users have to sync media, photos, music, and videos to and from their PC.
It was previously presumed that the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would offer offer Mac users a small application to handle syncing only of their phones, but the latest revelation suggests a more feature-rich offering is in the cards, possibly to rival iTunes.
The nine Windows Phone 7 handsets introduced by Microsoft this week are the first to offer the Zune music experience on a phone, allowing users to play their music collection, synced wirelessly from their PC, or stream or download new tunes from the Windows Marketplace.
Many industry-watchers believe the new Windows Phone 7 platform represents Microsoft's last chance to make inroads in the modern mobile space, which is quickly falling into the hands of rivals Apple, Google and Research in Motion.
The first Windows Phone 7 handsets will be available in parts of Europe and Asia on October 21st before making their way to the U.S. market on November 8. Any formal announcement of Zune software for Mac would likely need to precede those launches, meaning more news should become available within the next week.
For Microsoft, its Zune franchise faces an uphill climb. Although the first Zune media players made their debut back in November of 2006, recent data from NPD has the players occupying a paltry 2% share of the global market. By comparison, Apple's iPod maintains well over a 70% share and is the leading digital music player in every major market within which it participates.
Comments
Oboy, Zune on a smartphone! Now I can finally trash that old Newton and buy into a real white elephant device! Does it suck and crash like an authentic Microsoft device, or does it stink for newly fascinating reasons?
I know. who in their right mind would want some crappy Microsoft Zune device and software infecting their Mac when they have the far superior iTunes with iPhones and iPods?
i wonder what bad things it will cause the mac to do
Yeah because iTunes is so well coded, slick and non bloated!
an obvious thing to do, but why not do it when you actually made zunes?
and why kill of IE when browsers are so important? i hate IE but not having it on the mac was stupid stupid move.
Yeah because iTunes is so well coded, slick and non bloated!
Yeah because my MacPro takes drastically to long at 2 seconds to load it. I mean come on Apple I cannot possibly be waiting 2 seconds to load iTunes, WHAT are you THINKING !
Sarcasm off
Now iTunes on my Windows 7 Install YUCK ! it needs some real work, but on the Mac it's number 1 and fast as all get out and an extreme pleasure to use.
Please Micro$oft, get realistic, ask Balmer to put down his crack pipe and stop sniffing glue.. Do you seriously believe a Mac user would want to install buggy M$ software.... ?
Anyway, thats for my $0.02
1. To developers: This time we are serious, we won't just drop it like the KIN, plays for sure, apps for the Zune, etc ad inf. It is worth investing in the platform. Apple users account for far more than 2/3 of app revenues globally and for the majority of content sales. Without saying "they too can be customers", the appeal is severely limited.
2. To regulators: This is not locked, we do not enforce a vertical model that constraints customers.
Needless to say, as usual with politics, there is no real benefit for the casual human and it will be many years until MS can catch up to the variety of content offered for Apple's platforms, if ever. Apple will close the last missing piece of the puzzle, subscriptions, for the few who want it, and then MS and others will be even more behind. Funnily, in the end all the music industry sponsored cheap streaming services, generating no sustainable income for the content creators, do now force the industry to turn to Apple again, before even more artists move away.
I see elsewhere that the SD card slot is a bit useless on the '07 phone... http://www.itproportal.com/portal/ne...ping-sd-cards/
DOA I predict.
Yeah because my MacPro takes drastically to long at 2 seconds to load it. I mean come on Apple I cannot possibly be waiting 2 seconds to load iTunes, WHAT are you THINKING !
Sarcasm off
Now iTunes on my Windows 7 Install YUCK ! it needs some real work, but on the Mac it's number 1 and fast as all get out and an extreme pleasure to use.
on my Mac and Pc, Itunes is bloated.... takes a long time to load, sync, etc.... i have really just given up on it... winamp is much cooler anyways
Considering most of today's Mac users left MS for a good reason, I don't understand why would anyone using a Mac want to have a Zune or even a Windblowz 7 "smart" device.
Please Micro$oft, get realistic, ask Balmer to put down his crack pipe and stop sniffing glue.. Do you seriously believe a Mac user would want to install buggy M$ software.... ?
Anyway, thats for my $0.02
Obviously a lot do considering that MS Office is one of the top selling Mac packages.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Mac-Software
My only question is if they will make it compatible with WinMo OS. I’d say no.
and why would I want this !? I mean why ?
Scenario 00: You have or just prefer using Mac OS X, but you also like WP7.
Scenario 01: Your job has given you a WP7-based device and you want to install your personal data but you only use Mac OS X.
an obvious thing to do, but why not do it when you actually made zunes?
and why kill of IE when browsers are so important? i hate IE but not having it on the mac was stupid stupid move.
This is all about marketshare which includes projected marketshare. The Zune was only sold in the US and was limited in the number of models, while WP7 will be on many vendors carrying many different models and in many countries by the end of the year. On top that, this shows Mac OS X as being prominent enough to even consider.
As for for IE on Macs, that was IE in name the way Windows Mobile is only Windows in name. Those browsers didn’t even use the same browser engines and when they dropped it Mac usage levels were still very low and MS still wasn’t concerned with IE for Windows being a ‘good’ browser. IE9 is changing that and it’s possible that we could see a port of the IE9 engines pushed to a Mac build (well, more possible than before, though I still think it’s unlikely).
Considering most of today's Mac users left MS for a good reason, I don't understand why would anyone using a Mac want to have a Zune or even a Windblowz 7 "smart” device.
There is nothing more “realistic” than acknowledging your competitor’s position in a market.
Can't see why Microsoft would bother for the twenty or so people who might try it out.
I reckon they expect more than "20 or so people" to try it out.
Obviously a lot do considering that MS Office is one of the top selling Mac packages.
Bad comparison. MS Office is still a monopoly and people have to buy it for compatibility reasons. No real free choice here. MS does not do equally well where people do have a choice.
Office 2008 for Mac was a complete mess when it was released, they needed the best part of a year to even deliver the stability and performance that the previous Office 2004 achieved under emulation... Good coding is different. Unfortunately, the growing number of documents being received using Office 2007 and newer XML based formats forced users to move. I have not really met a single person who liked it though...
Obviously a lot do considering that MS Office is one of the top selling Mac packages.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Mac-Software
That's just from all the newbie switchers thinking they can't live without Office... Give them a year or two and they will be Microsoft free and liberated too.
That's just from all the newbie switchers thinking they can't live without Office... Give them a year or two and they will be Microsoft free and liberated too.
I choose to use OpenOffice on my MacBook Pro not because I hate Microsoft, but because I'm a cheap bastard
I can see the need for Office for Macs, so Macs can play nicely with bad MS bloatware that infests corporate ecosystems, but Zunes and their media management software is at this point superfluous. And if Ballmer T. Clown thinks *this* is the way MS mobile devices will proliferate among Mac users, he's even more delusional than previously thought. This is the same idiot that predicted the death of the Mac in a bad economy and the decline of Apple because people will get burned for paying for a logo. Except that as usual, he proved in that instance, as always, that old Billy G. made a really, really poor choice when it came to a replacement. At least he's funny to watch now and then. And he *does* make Apple look really good, too.
In any case, this latest attempt to sell the cream of the tech-using population on laughable Zune garbage-ware will be as successful as the product with the same name.
In an effort not to discourage Mac users from adopting one of its new Windows Phone 7 handsets, Microsoft will reportedly deploy later this a year the first version of its Zune media software targeted at Apple users.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
No sane Mac user would allow any MS software on their Mac. As fas MS Office is concerned that is used mostly by the corporate morons who want to look cool using a Mac but don't have the brains to really use it. MS Office is their connection to the PC world.
That's just from all the newbie switchers thinking they can't live without Office... Give them a year or two and they will be Microsoft free and liberated too.
'liberated'. yeah, right.
'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' -we don't get fooled again
I'm not sure what point there is to sell Mac users on pretend iPhones by offering them fake iTunes.
What exactly is pretend about Windows Phone 7? The UI is nothing like iOS (or Android/webOS, bbOS for the matter).