Zune a brown elephant?

Stan Beer
Friday, 10 November 2006 07:50

Opinion and Analysis

And of course, not many will expect the Zune Marketplace to match it with iTunes for functionality or content in the early days. It has a few years of deals and development to make up but few doubt that it will eventually get there.

The big problem to my mind is the Zune player itself. People may disagree with me on this one, but one of the most pleasing features of the various iPod models are their look and feel. They are masterpieces in aesthetic design - something which Apple has always been very good at. As for Zune, just as a chocolate brown business suit is very rarely in fashion, the Zune both in color, size and style, appears to be a bit of a clunker.

In fact, this last point is the main problem that Redmond is going to face. Apple is a company that has a cool image that appeals to music fans. Microsoft, despite the great strides it has made in the gaming space, is not a company renowned for being cool. The music market is very different to the games market.

For iPod owners looking to upgrade, an oversized clunky brown Zune that can't play many of the tunes they have on their iPods simply won't do it for them.

This Christmas, new buyers will be faced with a range of sleek iPods available in different pastel shades, shiny silver and fire engine red, which can download music, videos and TV shows for cash from a fully stocked iTunes store. That they will compare to a brown one-size fits all Zune player that is attached to an online store with more limited download options using a strange points payment system.

No one gets it right all the time. Apple had the Newton. The question on my mind is whether Microsoft will be forced to face the fact that the Zune may turn out to be a big brown elephant.