It's been a bad month for Microsoft
Was that a Zune that President-elect Barack Obama was working out with in a gym? Nope -- that story proved to be inaccurate, as Obama's campaign contacted the reporter to clarify that the next leader of the country jams exclusively with an Apple
Is a Zune phone hitting the market early next year, to combat the popularity of Apple's iPhone and Google's
Sure, a smartphone with Zune compatibility would have been a dud. Earlier this year, Zune had just 4% of the digital media player market, badly trailing category-killer Apple and even distant second-place finisher SanDisk
Q1 2008 |
Market Share |
---|---|
iPod |
71% |
SanDisk |
11% |
Zune |
4% |
Creative |
2% |
Source: NPD Group.
The real key to a Zune handset would be to cash in on Microsoft's Xbox 360 diehard gamers and make it a multipurpose communications, multimedia, and gaming portable device. Sony
So, sure, maybe we don't get the Zune phone device next month. Maybe we never get a ZuneBox handheld gaming device. Absent either scenario, can anyone see Microsoft's two-year-old player making it to its third birthday?
2009 has to be a big year for the Zune, or it will likely be its last.
Other Zune-a-riffic leads: