Rest in Peace, Zune

Bloomberg , citing a knowledgeable source inside Microsoft, reports that the corporation has decided to stop the release of the Zune line of players. Due to the low demand for devices, there will be no new devices, and Microsoft will concentrate on integrating the functionality currently available in the player with the Windows Phone 7 platform, which is now being given “mobile” preference.

The decision does not look casual or sudden - Zune has not changed since mid-2009, when the release of the HD model took place, although several major software updates were released. Certainly, the thought of winding up the production of the Zune was in the MS headquarters for a long time, but until recently it was not clear what fate awaits the player.
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Zune will remain alive as a Software-and-Services platform, and Windows Phone 7 will take over the player’s vivid features to play music on mobile phones, Zune Marketplace will go to sell music, and Zune PC to sync media, firmware, and other data.



Since its inception in 2006, Zune has been trying to fight for the market with its main rival - Apple iPod line-ups. The latest HD model, released in 2009, had almost all the benefits of an iPod. It was, indeed, a good player, from excellent materials, in an attractive design. Unfortunately - his release happened too late. The advantage of the Apple App Store at that time was already obvious, and Zune could not outweigh the variety of applications of the apple store (Zune HD is comparable in price and performance with the iPod Touch).

One of the conditions for the weak spread of Zune outside the United States was that Microsoft did not make any effort to actually promote the player outside the States. As a result, Apple very quickly gained a dominant position in the global market for music players and mobile devices, with 77% of the market last year.

Rumors hovering around the Zune trademark in recent months have led to reasoning that the brand will most likely be renamed, or killed with one blow. What can still happen - Microsoft has not yet received official confirmation.

However, the decision to roll out an independent Zune platform is already obvious now: it is expensive, time consuming and energy consuming. It is quite possible that this will be the first step towards a total change in the form factor of the platform, code-named "Ventura".

Among other things, the decision to stop production Zune says that in the future, Microsoft is unlikely to try to repeat Apple's passes, releasing equivalents of apple products on the Windows Phone 7 platform - a phone platform without the phone itself (however, Android did it well). But personally, it seems to me that the success of the iPad will not give rest to Microsoft, and again, having created a cartridge, will not be able to find the right weapon for it.

Bloomberg via CrunchGear via Wired