Dell hit with shortage of brown Zunes
updated 05:30 pm EST, Thu December 6, 2007
Dell's brown Zune shortage
Dell has unexpectedly run out of brown Zunes, a manager with the company explains. As part of a clearance coinciding with Black Friday and the release of Microsoft's latest Zunes, Dell last month hosted a deal on the original 30GB player. Shoppers could buy it for an extremely low $99, only $20 more than the 1GB iPod shuffle by Apple; this triggered a flood of buyers, many of whom chose the brown color, most likely because it is rarely offered on any other media player.
Stocks rapidly dwindled, leading to numerous complaints of delayed or non-existent shipping. To cope with the problem Dell is substituting all brown Zune orders with white or black ones, which they note are functionally identical. If a customer decides he does not like the player, he will have to return it within 30 days of getting it in the mail.









Hide-A-Pod
12/06, 06:09pm reply
Well, with more iPods sold, the higher the need for Hide-A-Pod: The ultimate iPod and iPhone anti-theft device . . . Hide it in a Zune!
Check it out. That's where the brown Zzzzzunes are going to end up... hideapod.com
dliup
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2006
Not so surprising
12/06, 06:31pm reply
when you consider that no one thought to make any more after their dismal sales. To be fair, that particular brown color was chosen as one of this year's official design colors at the conference that spans all of the design industries. However, many of said colors aren't all the attractive, just different to make people want to get the "new" items.
Guess there's no accounting for taste when it's powered by the profit-first mentality.
danviento
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Dec 2005
take a loss...
12/06, 06:41pm reply
Much?!
lol! Maybe it beats never selling them, but I'm guessing, not by much. WOW™
Flying Meat
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2007
Wow!
12/06, 07:12pm reply
To cope with the problem Dell is substituting all brown Zune orders with white or black ones, which they note are functionally identical.
I can't believe MS actually managed to make three different color Zunes and make them functionally identical.
And can we STFU about the stupid-assed 'hide-a-pod' c***. Most people would argue thieves are a stupid lot. As such, they'd have no problem stealing a zune or an ipod. And I would venture they don't bother paying too much attention to what they're taking until they get away and have a chance to peruse their ill-gotten gains.
Of course, it would be really funny if people actually wanted a zune (well, someone's buying them, even at a loss) that they stole your zune protected ipod.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
I just ate...
12/06, 07:36pm reply
...I could probably squeeze out a few "brown zunes" here in a little bit.
leamanc
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2003
givaway
12/06, 08:43pm reply
my gosh. what's a 30 gig 1.8" hard drive worth? talk about buying market. Just like the X Box, MS sporting a money looser just to try and grab market.
macbones
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2006
leave it to MS
12/06, 10:05pm reply
Something is actually selling - and they run out.
Doofuses.
robttwo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2005
How many were sold?
12/06, 11:34pm reply
A real story would list how many Zunes were sold. Maybe they had 15 to begin with and they're sold out -- not news. If they had 15,000,000 and sold out, then it's news. Facts, please....
derbbre
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2000
Non-news
12/07, 12:29pm reply
Numbers people-we need numbers. Unofficially it has been reported that Dell was in possession of 3 Brown zunes. This brings the total sale of G1 zunes to 16 since they were introduced a year ago.
Way I figure it, media should make this a top story considering it contains about the same level of facts found in this one. Talk about doing anything to prop this stillborn player up.
BTW: Just had a chance to try out the iPod touch. Apple's Hyperion to MS's satyr. Now-Apple-give us more of the same in different configurations.
Monde
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jan 2004
brown
12/07, 02:48pm reply
Brown is a very hip color right now. Offering a brown Zune is really the only thing MS got right.
notehead
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001