Zune HD confirmed – as competition for the Apple iPod Touch
An update to Microsoft’s Zune has been rumored for the past few months. Would it get a name change? What features would it add? Would it have a touchscreen? All those questions have now been answered with the official announcement of the next iteration of Zune. It’s called Zune HD and it’s coming this fall.
The Zune has been nothing short of a disaster for Microsoft. It’s sold in OK quantities but it hasn’t taken off and set the world alight as Microsoft must have hoped for. Which all pointed towards an unsure future for the product. Would Microsoft carry on down this route or give up on developing its own portable media device?
Not only has Microsoft decided to carry on with the product line, it’s pulling out all the stops in order to make the Zune compete with its most obvious and high-profile competitors. The name is staying, with an HD being stuck on the end as the only differentiator from the original device. But the features and capabilities of the device are getting a huge boost.
The Zune HD has a 3.3″, 16:9, widescreen OLED touchscreen with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels. It also boasts a Web browser with Internet Explorer, and will be based on Windows CE. The HD part of the name comes from the inclusion of HD Video (720p) and HD Radio. The Zune is the first portable device to include HD Radio and that’s clearly going to be a selling point.
Other details are pretty scarce except for the Zune being more wholly integrated with the Xbox 360. The price is not yet known, the release date is no more precise than “the fall”, and nothing has yet been revealed about software. E3 is being held next week and more details are likely to emerge then.
What Microsoft has said is that “this device is created to go head to head with the iPod Touch.” Chris Stephenson, general manager of global marketing for Microsoft Zune told CNET that nugget of information in a telephone interview yesterday. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple is likely to be planning a new version of the iPod Touch for later this year so it could all be too little, too late.
One of the big questions still remaining is whether Microsoft is planning a Zune App store to compete with the iPhone and iPod Touch App store. The thousands of apps, especially games, is what makes the Apple devices so appealing to the mainstream and while HD Radio may be an added bonus I can’t see it shifting millions of units of the Zune HD.
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May 28th, 2009
It’ll get equally as much market penetration as previous Zunes. The mp3 player market belongs to Apple – the iPod touch has a certain appeal, and that comes from the way it looks, works and also the App store.
The Zune just isn’t appealing – it doesn’t have the brand ‘coolness’ associated with it. If you’re going to your mates “Look at the latest Zune I just got”, its not the same as “Look at my new iPod”. It will never compete with the iPod touch, especially if a new model gets released this year which it inevitably will.
May 28th, 2009
Totally right with the app store. Zune could at least double sales with a similar feature. Personally I have the IPhone 3g 16gb and a Zune 80gb. One is the phone which I use primarily for news, other apps, internet searches, maps, directions, and calls, while the other I primarily use for music and podcasts. If I had to take only one of course it would be the IPhone.
The main strength the Zune has over Touch is it’s storage capability, which is a must if you have a large collection that you want to take with you easily. Microsoft is making the right move with internet surfing, but unless it is free like a Kindle, or very cheap, and they can somehow get a similar app store, it likely won’t change a lot of minds with Apple’s faithful.
May 29th, 2009
I’ll wait until it comes out before judging it, not having the gift of prescience an iPod seems to bestow.