The Failure of Microsoft Zune
Microsoft Zune was a media player from Microsoft company that was launched in 2006. Microsoft company believed that the product would compete with Apple’s iPod, which had dominated the market since 2001 (McIntyre, 2009). By the time Zune was launched, Apple had sold over 100 million iPods. However, Microsoft failed to get a larger market share despite the capital and expertise it had recruited to support the marketing of the product. Various factors contributed to the failure of Microsoft Zune, and one of them is bad timing. Zune launched five years after Apple’s iPod was launched. The Zune came too late, and by then IPod was dominating the market and became the leading portable entertainment
Insufficient marketing also contributed to the failure of Microsoft’s Zune. The marketing team for Zune failed to set the product aside, and they were narrowly focused. The team targeted most of their campaigns towards a particular audience, forgetting the general audience who would have benefited from the product. As a result, the marketing team failed to engage the wider audience by aiming at a niche group. Lack of motivation also affected the sales of Zune and therefore failed. Zune did not have enough features to compete with IPod or address any features that IPod did not have (Damra, 2017).
Microsoft Zune did not offer better pricing to compete with the iPod. For instance, the 8GB variant of Zune only costs $10 less than the Apple equivalent (Mockey, 2009). Looking at the 120GB variant, Zune 120 cost much more compared to the iPod classic 120. Another thing is that Zune did not provide many accessories as Apple did. With the iPod, one could get other accessories such as FM transmitters, and toilet paper holders that could dock an iPod.
References
Damra, S. (2017). Why the Zune Failed. Medium. Retrieved 15 February 2020, from https://medium.com/@shiriendamra/why-the-zune-failed-132784522ff0.
McIntyre, D. (2009). The 10 Biggest Tech Failures of the Last Decade – TIME. TIME.com. Retrieved 15 February 2020, from http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1898610_1898625_1898633,00.html.
Mockey, N. (2009). Five Reasons the Microsoft Zune is Dead. Digital Trends. Retrieved 15 February 2020, from https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/five-reasons-the-microsoft-zune-is-dead/.