Microsoft’s Zune music player will die a quiet death as the consumers are consistently opting for iPods or other smartphones which can play music as well, according to a report of Bloomberg. The support for existing Zune players will continue from Microsoft but there would be no new models from the company.
There has not been any categorical denial from Microsoft yet, but in a statement Dave McLauchlan, senior business development manager for Zune, clarifies the situation to a great extent.
The Zune music player coming in a separate hardware is likely to stop, as the company now sees Windows Phone 7 as the future home of Zune music player.
As a music player, Zune received tremendous support from Microsoft in promotion, but it never managed to capture the market like iPod from Apple did. Zune will continue to live, but in a different form. The Windows Phone 7 platform already has about 10,000 apps and is growing quickly. The addition of Zune to it would add greatly to its versatility and content library.
Clearly, with tablets and smartphones becoming the preferred devices to access the music content, the Microsoft’s decision to pursue a software-only strategy appears to be the right one. Even the alliance between Nokia and Microsoft could create an entirely new market for the company.
The two major problems with Zune music player were its image, as it was a me-too product, and the design was not right (it appeared too bureaucratic). Microsoft was always conservative by nature, and it showed in Zune.