Zune leak reveals iPod nano killer?
updated 08:50 am EDT, Wed April 11, 2007
Zune Sequel Rumors
Core details about the next generation of the Zune have been leaked, according to a blogger who claims to have spoken with a member of the Microsoft Zune team. The source has allegedly revealed that the company is already finishing the design stage of a smaller Zune based on flash memory whose size and features would be consciously aimed at defeating today's the iPod nano. The device would be just three inches tall and a quarter-inch thick with a screen that covers nearly 75 percent of the front face. It should also hold more flash memory than today's 8GB flash players, with beating Apple and other rivals in terms of storage as an explicit goal.
"You have to beat the competition, you know," the Microsoft employee said.
A sequel to the existing 30GB hard drive is also in the works, the report notes. The device will be near-identical on the surface, only becoming thinner despite an increase in storage -- but the core components may be very different, he hinted. The opening of a new Zune-specific factory was interpreted as a shift towards an in-house design, hoping to move away from the Toshiba Gigabeat-based components of today's model.
Release dates and other more tangible details of the player were unavailable during the alleged conversation. The blogger noted, however, that nearly 2.4 million of the updated Zunes will be made in the run-up to the holiday season, when both the new hard drive model and its flash sibling should be available in stores.
Microsoft's first self-produced music player has struggled in the market to date, achieving a sizeable but small portion of the market compared to Apple since its launch in November. The lack of flash-based models has been cited by numerous sources as a contributing factor in Microsoft's relatively poor showing.
Bring it on....
04/11, 09:00am reply
Micro$shaft - What a bunch of clueless muppets.
Recto Bold
Junior Member
Joined: Feb 2005
my fave...
04/11, 09:05am reply
is micro$loth
paulc
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2000
what i liike
04/11, 09:14am reply
is how there is a "blogger" that theoretically had a conversation with an unknown source inside Micro$ucks and as usual the details are vague at best_
But then MacNN takes it upon themselves to title this waste of my time [yet again] "an iPod killer"_
Why don't we all just freakin' wait until the iPod is actually indeed "killed" before we start labeling products that are currently figments of some "bloggers" imagination_
I'm real surprised that MacNN did not quote Electronista on this one_
How come every time Apple comes out with a new innovative something - no one ever says "hey look it might be a Windoze killer or a micro$hits killer" ??
UberFu
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2002
seriously...
04/11, 09:19am reply
how many times can MacNN use the phrase "iPod killer"? Obviously more than 12,832 (by my count)
It's about as intelligent and creative as a a reported using some form of "Opps I did it again" in aBritney Spears article...
And the woird killer iscompletely inaccurate to begin with. By that meaning, a nano killer would stop sales of the nano dead. Not one purchase at all. Even the iRiver and Sony have 3-5% market share... ie: NOT KILLED.
I think MacNN should start having it's reporters sign the articles so we can email them.... But that wont happen: When you put out s***, you dont want to be recognized for it. :)
eldarkus
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Joined: Feb 2004
Please...
04/11, 09:20am reply
These "iPod Killers" are pathetic. Wait until Apple releases the next gen iPod and nano that have the same design as the iPhone. Microsoft will be wishing they never got in the music business.
Pismo
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Joined: Feb 2006
Ih.
04/11, 09:36am reply
It'll happen eventually. People thought VHS was hot sh_t for a while... until DVD.
Monstermind
Junior Member
Joined: May 2000
ipod nano killer?
04/11, 09:52am reply
hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
mymacluvsme
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2004
MS employee of the month
04/11, 10:02am reply
"You have to beat the competition, you know," the Microsoft employee said.
Wow, what an insight! Makes you wonder why they haven't overtaken the iPod yet...
doemel
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2006
What about iTunes ?
04/11, 10:08am reply
The genius of the iPod is the synergy between iTunes and the hardware player. Zune Marketplace is, by all accounts, an absolute dog. It doesn't matter if the Zune is an iPod 'killer' (it's not, and never will be), if they don't get the software side right too...
Maybe M$ will make the Zune work with iTunes now that it seems the record companies are going DRM free ?
Anyway, it's not like Apple are sitting on their hands. I expect to see an fullscreen multi-touch iPod and Nano before the holiday season. True iPod killers - new iPods :)
Gee4orce
Mac Elite
Joined: Dec 2000
MS Is A Joke
04/11, 10:24am reply
Unfortunately for Microsoft, unlike VHS tapes (which is a very bad analogy by the way), Apple isn't going to simply sit still with the same models that are out today. By the time the holiday season rolls around, Apple will already have a new nano out that will make this flash Zune obsolete.
MacnTX
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Joined: Apr 2004