1M Zunes sold; competing with Apple is "fun"
updated 11:25 am EDT, Mon May 28, 2007
1M Zunes Sold
Microsoft is already ahead of its shipment targets for the Zune, Microsoft Entertainment head Robbie Bach has revealed today in an interview. The executive noted that Microsoft has sold "a little over a million" of the 30GB players by late May, putting it ahead of the million-unit target set for June. Zunes also have a "pretty typical" attach rate per player for songs bought from the Zune Marketplace, Bach said, though the company hopes to expand its online shop beyond its traditional layout. He further hinted that the Zune's Wi-Fi could be used in the future for more than just Zune-to-Zune sharing after eventual software upgrades.
Bach was also particularly warm to Apple. Competing with the California firm is "fun" because the company is very skilled and a "worthy" challenger, he said. He also contradicted Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's controversial remarks on the iPhone and observed that it should be an interesting device that garners its fair share of attention.
"Apple is very good at design; they come up with interesting approaches to products," Bach said. "Like anything else, it will have its trade-offs. It will be pretty high priced, and just on the Cingular (AT&T) network. But, it's an Apple product. It'll attract its level of attention from Apple enthusiasts, and we'll see where it goes from there. And it's a new concept, highly integrated."
The executive contextualized the compliments, however. Microsoft's Windows Mobile team had no intention of changing its more conventional approach to smartphones and already has an edge over BlackBerry creator Research In Motion for sales. Centering on an individual class of phone was said to be inappropriate given the sheer scope of the mobile phone business.
"We think phones are deeply personal," he added. "Some people want a flip phone, some people want a candy bar, some people want a QWERTY keyboard, some people want a touch screen, some people want music phones -- people have different needs."
One million!
05/28, 11:58am reply
Apple must be quaking in there boots. That must be almost a day's sales...
davidg
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Joined: Dec 2006
Sure
05/28, 11:59am reply
I'd take anything that comes out of the s*** hole known as Microsoft with a grain of salt. A millions zunes... YA RIGHT..in ur wettest dreams maybe!
jarod
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Joined: Apr 2005
Shipped maybe
05/28, 12:06pm reply
That's 1 million shipped to retailers. I have yet to see on on sale anywhere in Canada yet. Not that I'm looking mind you, it's just a kind of morbid curiosity. Like looking at wreckage after a car crash.
Stone Soldier
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Joined: Apr 2005
at least
05/28, 12:07pm reply
the guy is giving props to Apple instead of acting like Ballmer and either dissing them (thereby looking like an idiot) or pretending like they didn't want to do things Apple's way anyways (thereby looking like a different sort of idiot).
climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001
re: shipped maybe
05/28, 12:08pm reply
good point. If the company making Zune were any other company besides deep-pocketed Microsoft, one wonders whether they would be deep-discounting it in order to move the damned things...
climacs
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Joined: Sep 2001
1 million sold?
05/28, 12:10pm reply
You have to remember, M$ counts them as sold when it leaves their warehouse, not when a customer buys it. So it could be that there are a million sitting at various stores wating to be bought by a loser, er, valueable Microsoft customer.
ronboor
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Joined: Apr 2004
TurdBrick®
05/28, 12:23pm reply
"Just over a million TurdBricks® have now left our warehouse... We're a bit ahead of schedule."
If Zune was a dog, I would not feed it.
jcatma61
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Joined: Nov 2006
funny
05/28, 12:25pm reply
Apple is "a worthy challenger" to Microsoft in MP3 players? I think he got that backwards.
Apple is the champion, Microsoft is the challenger, and not particularly worthy so far.
elroth
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Joined: Jul 2006
Jeez.
05/28, 01:07pm reply
They must have hot-and-cold running Kool-Aid in Redmond.
jpellino
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Joined: Oct 1999
Not really.....
05/28, 01:16pm reply
No way they have SOLD one million, they've SHIPPED one million, big difference! I saw them on sale just yesterday for $50 off at a major US retailer, so these things are not moving at all. Of that one million, there are still a ton of them sitting on store shelves all over the United States.
MacnTX
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Joined: Apr 2004