Saturday, July 22, 2006
Coming Zune: The iPod's Rival
Posted by Darius Wey in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 05:00 AM
"They made a statue of us. And put it on a mountain top. Now tourists come and stare at us. Blow bubbles with their gum. Take photographs for fun, for fun." - "Us", by Regina Spektor (Coming Zune).
The past week has been rife with news and rumours about Microsoft's iPod rival, otherwise known as the Zune. Like the days of the Xbox 360 and Ultra-Mobile PC, Microsoft has embarked on a new viral marketing scheme aimed at catching the attention of not just disgruntled iPod users, but consumers worldwide who are after a portable device that represents the future of entertainment. What does Microsoft have in store? Read on to find out!
Microsoft confirmed the existence of the Zune yesterday with an exclusive Billboard interview and the launch of the Coming Zune web site. The Zune is best described as both Microsoft's solution to Apple's dominant iPod, and an admission of its own failure in delivering a working ecosystem. Ecosystem, you say? It's a term that has become increasingly popular since Apple first unveiled its iPod and the companionable iTunes application and iTunes Music Store. Apple knows that success in the digital media market isn't merely about having the most power-packed hardware around. The software is just as important as the hardware. Integration of the two is just as important as existence of the two. And making it all work is the icing on the cake. In this digital age where DRM controls our autonomy, it all comes down to succeeding in three key areas: the ability to purchase the media, transfer the media to a device, and listen to the media - all without annoyance. Apple does this so well, and the market statistics prove it. While at times, Microsoft has had its moments of glory, its ecosystem has largely failed. The lack of a uniform device, the lack of a globally accessible media service, and the ailing Windows Media Player application have contributed to this. The introduction of PlaysForSure aimed to patch this up, yet it had not (and still has not) given Microsoft the edge it needs to compete with Apple. Microsoft's recent partnership with MTV in the delivery of URGE is much the same story. While a step in the right direction, it fails in two areas: firstly, it has a limited consumer base (at the moment, URGE is only available for US consumption), and secondly, it relies heavily on spotty DRM technology (proof can be seen in the synchronisation experience with Windows Mobile-based devices, which is nowhere near as reliable as the iPod and iTunes combination). So, Microsoft would benefit from looking at its current ecosystem (or rather, lack thereof), identifying the holes, and rebuilding a new one in order to give Apple a cause for concern. That's where the Zune comes into play.
Figure 1: PlaysForSure and URGE - nice, but not enough.
The Zune falls under Microsoft's "Home & Entertainment" group, which like the "Mobile & Embedded Devices" group (the brains behind our favourite toys), is part of the parent "Entertainment & Devices" group. Sources are pointing fingers at Robbie Bach (President of the "Entertainment & Devices" group) and J Allard (Corporate Vice President and Chief XNA Architect at Microsoft, and a founding member of the Xbox platform) as two key figures behind the Zune. Allard's involvement is regarded as significant, and talk of his involvement has since opened up a bag of rumours (some considered more fact than fiction, and vice versa). As we've witnessed with the Xbox 360, Allard and his team have the potential to walk on their own path and achieve success by ensuring that the products they create offer an integrated experience. How? By utilising unique hardware and software that plugs into a uniform service that connects people to the service, connects the service to the people, and connects people to people. To recapitulate, this ideology is just what Microsoft needs to crack the iPod's dominance in the digital media market, but also further develop its position in areas it already has a stranglehold on.
So, let's break down the facts and rumours and see where Microsoft plans to take the Zune in the years ahead. Like the Xbox 360, the Zune will be uniform from both a hardware and software perspective, thus keeping incompatibilities to a minimum. There were rumours that the Zune would run Windows Mobile, but this is becoming increasingly unlikely. The Zune's experience has to be unique, and you can't achieve that when Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Centers are already powered by the same platform. Thus, it's assumed that the platform driving the Zune will be written from the ground up. Sources indicate that from a hardware perspective, the Zune will sport some sort of drive, not flash media, to offer large storage capacities that could best be regarded as a "requirement" in this day and age with more people resorting to the purchasing of digital media online and the ripping of one's own CD collection. In addition, the Zune is expected to feature Wi-Fi capabilities, which offers benefits in many ways (more on this later).
The past week has been rife with news and rumours about Microsoft's iPod rival, otherwise known as the Zune. Like the days of the Xbox 360 and Ultra-Mobile PC, Microsoft has embarked on a new viral marketing scheme aimed at catching the attention of not just disgruntled iPod users, but consumers worldwide who are after a portable device that represents the future of entertainment. What does Microsoft have in store? Read on to find out!
Microsoft confirmed the existence of the Zune yesterday with an exclusive Billboard interview and the launch of the Coming Zune web site. The Zune is best described as both Microsoft's solution to Apple's dominant iPod, and an admission of its own failure in delivering a working ecosystem. Ecosystem, you say? It's a term that has become increasingly popular since Apple first unveiled its iPod and the companionable iTunes application and iTunes Music Store. Apple knows that success in the digital media market isn't merely about having the most power-packed hardware around. The software is just as important as the hardware. Integration of the two is just as important as existence of the two. And making it all work is the icing on the cake. In this digital age where DRM controls our autonomy, it all comes down to succeeding in three key areas: the ability to purchase the media, transfer the media to a device, and listen to the media - all without annoyance. Apple does this so well, and the market statistics prove it. While at times, Microsoft has had its moments of glory, its ecosystem has largely failed. The lack of a uniform device, the lack of a globally accessible media service, and the ailing Windows Media Player application have contributed to this. The introduction of PlaysForSure aimed to patch this up, yet it had not (and still has not) given Microsoft the edge it needs to compete with Apple. Microsoft's recent partnership with MTV in the delivery of URGE is much the same story. While a step in the right direction, it fails in two areas: firstly, it has a limited consumer base (at the moment, URGE is only available for US consumption), and secondly, it relies heavily on spotty DRM technology (proof can be seen in the synchronisation experience with Windows Mobile-based devices, which is nowhere near as reliable as the iPod and iTunes combination). So, Microsoft would benefit from looking at its current ecosystem (or rather, lack thereof), identifying the holes, and rebuilding a new one in order to give Apple a cause for concern. That's where the Zune comes into play.
Figure 1: PlaysForSure and URGE - nice, but not enough.
The Zune falls under Microsoft's "Home & Entertainment" group, which like the "Mobile & Embedded Devices" group (the brains behind our favourite toys), is part of the parent "Entertainment & Devices" group. Sources are pointing fingers at Robbie Bach (President of the "Entertainment & Devices" group) and J Allard (Corporate Vice President and Chief XNA Architect at Microsoft, and a founding member of the Xbox platform) as two key figures behind the Zune. Allard's involvement is regarded as significant, and talk of his involvement has since opened up a bag of rumours (some considered more fact than fiction, and vice versa). As we've witnessed with the Xbox 360, Allard and his team have the potential to walk on their own path and achieve success by ensuring that the products they create offer an integrated experience. How? By utilising unique hardware and software that plugs into a uniform service that connects people to the service, connects the service to the people, and connects people to people. To recapitulate, this ideology is just what Microsoft needs to crack the iPod's dominance in the digital media market, but also further develop its position in areas it already has a stranglehold on.
So, let's break down the facts and rumours and see where Microsoft plans to take the Zune in the years ahead. Like the Xbox 360, the Zune will be uniform from both a hardware and software perspective, thus keeping incompatibilities to a minimum. There were rumours that the Zune would run Windows Mobile, but this is becoming increasingly unlikely. The Zune's experience has to be unique, and you can't achieve that when Pocket PCs, Smartphones, and Portable Media Centers are already powered by the same platform. Thus, it's assumed that the platform driving the Zune will be written from the ground up. Sources indicate that from a hardware perspective, the Zune will sport some sort of drive, not flash media, to offer large storage capacities that could best be regarded as a "requirement" in this day and age with more people resorting to the purchasing of digital media online and the ripping of one's own CD collection. In addition, the Zune is expected to feature Wi-Fi capabilities, which offers benefits in many ways (more on this later).
