Microsoft to follow Apple's lead with third-gen Zune players
The plans were outed over the weekend when electronics retailer Frys inadvertently published specifications and a photo of an third-generation, flash-based 8GB Zune model.
The webpage, since removed, listed the players as being in stock, suggesting the Redmond-based software giant may make an attempt to steal some of the thunder surrounding Apple's Let's Rock event by introducing the new Zune offerings on Tuesday or shortly thereafter.
Like Apple's iPods, the 8GB Zune will come pre-loaded with a selection of games. "Play the popular poker game Texas Hold'em or challenge yourself to a game of Hexic, and make sure you play your favorite song from your collection to create your own personal game soundtrack," read the spec sheet leaked by Frys.
Similarly, the player will also let users browse the Zune Marketplace for new songs when connected over Wi-Fi. The capability is documented as one of the features of a new "Device to Cloud" technology that will also let users exchange favorites with friends and purchase songs tagged through Zune's built-in FM radio application.
Another feature described in the spec sheet, called "Channels," will reportedly support "custom programming stations" that deliver personalized playlists to Zune users.
The leak by Frys arrived on the heels of a similar slip by online retailer Amazon.com, which posted to its web store a listing for a $250 120GB hard disk-based Zune that appeared otherwise identical to the outgoing 80GB model.
According to the information published by Frys, the 8GB flash-based Zune will retail for $150 and come in new colors that include blue and silver. A 16GB model is expected to fetch $200.
For its part, Apple is widely expected to announce steep price cuts on a new line of iPods to be introduce Tuesday, likely undercutting those planned by Microsoft for its new Zune line. Much of that speculation was drawn from comments made by Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer during a July 21st conference call with analysts.
"We have some investments in front of us that I canât discuss with you today where weâre going to be delivering state of the art new products that our competitors just arenât going to be able to match," he said.
53 Comments
If they actually do announce a new Zune, on the day Apple has a big event, it's going to show just how out of touch and stupid these people really are.
It will take ZERO thunder away from Apple, and in effect do the opposite.
Three weeks after tomorrow's event, people will STILL not know anything about the Zune because IT will get buried by everything Apple is doing.
If they were smart, they'd wait a week or so, and announce the "answer to the new Apple hardware".
This reminds me of the big announcment Sony was doing on new MP3 players featuring mini-drives just like the iPod. They at least had the foresight to wait until AFTER Apple did a show. At the Apple show, Apple announced they were going Flash! Sony was able to cancel their show, and shelve millions of dollars in development as it all became moot.
If they had gone ahead, on the day Apple launched, they would'vr looked super stupid and would not have been able to pull the product as easily.
I know MS is not going to pull the Zune, but going live on the day of Apple's event is not going to make a single dent in Apple's buzz and will get themselves ignore.
Launching a Zune minor upgrade in the middle of this is like going out to paint your picket fence white..... in the middle of a roaring snow-storm.
You may be able to do it..... but nobody is going to notice much less care.
Are M$ still selling the Zune family at a loss?
- Or have M$ managed to pull their heads out of their A$$ long enough to make a product that is good enough to be sold at a profit?
- to be honest, I think competition for Apple is a good thing, but not if the competition deliberately sold at a loss in order to gain market-share (that means you M$!).
Why innovate when you can copy? I wonder how much Microsoft has lost so far with their ipod knock off?
i would not consider the Zune an iPod knock off at all. the Zune is a fine media player and the subscription service is nice. the software sucks though and since they decided not to make a mac compatible version of it, they will never gain any real market share. a huge mistake on their part.
Thunder-stealing won't work. Every SINGLE article about the "new" Zune will ALSO mention what Apple's releasing. More free PR for Apple, who already has the mindshare.
Meanwhile, much if not most of Apple's press coverage will fail to mention the new Zunes at all. Kind of like how the Vista press coverage didn't touch on Tiger or Leopard much.
The "leader" gets mentioned all the time--frustrating for the smaller alternative I'm sure.