I wouldn’t put it by them Chas. I think they may have decided that the only way to compete with Apple is to actually just give the things away with perhaps a subscription service.

This is how MS killed Netscape….gave away Explorer…Netscape didn’t have a chance.  Luckily, the iPod is ingrained in our culture.  But, MS is desperate…a free Zune campaign is a definite possibility. 

GameStop to Stop Zune Sales

LOL

[quote author=“jwarren2001”] GameStop to Stop Zune Sales

LOL

GameStop? More like “Game Over” for the troubled device. 

Funniest part of it is these diametrically opposed statements from the two companies’ PR:

GameStop To Stop Selling Microsoft’s Zune >GME MSFT
Video-game retailer GameStop Corp. (GME) plans to stop selling Microsoft Corp.‘s (MSFT) Zune media player due to insufficient demand.

Adam Sohn, Microsoft’s Zune marketing manager, said in response that Zune sales “have seen good momentum” during the last few months, and that there’s been a “great response to our spring release.”

Guess someone other than SJ is guilty of having a reality distortion field.

Wait, perhaps when they realize they can’t get advertising, iPod owners will switch to Zune.

[quote author=“ChasMac77”]When I read this my first thought was that they must be planning on giving these turds away for free with ads underwriting the whole thing. Dopes!

Most appropriate illustration of the day.

[quote author=“bluebox”]Funniest part of it is these diametrically opposed statements from the two companies’ PR:

GameStop To Stop Selling Microsoft’s Zune >GME MSFT
Video-game retailer GameStop Corp. (GME) plans to stop selling Microsoft Corp.‘s (MSFT) Zune media player due to insufficient demand.

Adam Sohn, Microsoft’s Zune marketing manager, said in response that Zune sales “have seen good momentum” during the last few months, and that there’s been a “great response to our spring release.”

Guess someone other than SJ is guilty of having a reality distortion field.

The difference between Adam Sohn’s and Steve Job’s reality distortion fields is that SJ’s are actually plausibly probable. 

Kill the Zune, Microsoft

LMAO!

[quote author=“willrob”][quote author=“ChasMac77”]When I read this my first thought was that they must be planning on giving these turds away for free with ads underwriting the whole thing. Dopes!

Most appropriate illustration of the day.

Nice!      Good find Will!

[quote author=“jwarren2001”] Kill the Zune, Microsoft

LMAO!

My favorite part of the article…
“Apple sold 10.6 million iPods—and another 1.7 million iPhones—this past quarter. In other words, it would take Apple less than three weeks to sell the number of portable media players that Microsoft has sold since Zune’s birth.”

Ok…I am flip-flopping on my feelings for Motley Fool…I have upgraded them to “moderately disliked”, in light of this article. (of course, as any ANALyst will tell you, that position is subject to frequent change, for any or no reason at all) 

Gary Balter – Credit Suisse

This is actually Seth here too, just a quick question on some of your category margins, can you guys just provide a little bit of additional color on some of the fluctuations we saw this quarter and maybe what are your expectations going forward?

David Carlson

The hardware margin was down slightly from the prior year. That was mostly due to our exit from the Microsoft Zune category and to some extent our de-emphasis of warranties related to Microsoft’s manufacturing issue they had with the Xbox 360 which really began in the second quarter of last year.
We think these manufacturing issues are behind Microsoft and with that we’re confident we can start to re-emphasis warranties in our stores probably in the second half of this year. So we’re looking at probably this to be the bottom of the hardware margin and it should go up from here. The new software margins were pretty much flat with prior year. Used product margins decreased slightly from the prior year but improved from the last three sequential quarters.

From gameStop"s earnings call transcript

I know this entire thread is schadenfreude. I can’t help myself. BBY and GME make lots of money selling extended warranties. GME stopped selling extended warranties on xboxes last year. They lost money because their customers saw too many red rings of death.

Microsoft: Zune seeks Exclusive content to challenge Apple?s iPod

It is hard for Microsoft’s Zune player to take on mighty iPod but Recently Microsoft is looking for Hollywood studios for exclusives to its portable music/move player.

According to Hollywood Reporter, Microsoft executives are visiting different studios and looking for fresh talent in hopes of making a deal for its video/music player. Zune was launched in 2006 in a bit to outclass the dominance of Apple’s iPod. Microsoft has sold about 2 million songs since its launch.

It is reported that Microsoft is looking for exclusive content which Apple would not be able to get it and distribute it through its website iTunes.

“What we would be looking to do with any form of original content is the added component that Zune could provide that iTunes or any competing service couldn?t,” Microsoft?s Richard Winn told the Hollywood Reporter.

Maybe they should just distribute porn. 

Microsofts advertising slogan would be:

“Is that a Zune in your pocket, or are you just watching porn on your Zune?”

Richard Winn, director of entertainment development for Zune, says, “What we would be looking to do with any form of original content is the added component that Zune could provide that iTunes or any competing service couldn’t.”

Great, but will that make a difference, with the Zune market share hovering at 4 percent (compared to Apple at 71 percent)? If Paris Hilton falls into a highly original limited-run series on the Zune platform, will anyone hear about it? Not. This is the same programming/marketing team that came up with the idea of launching a Joy Division version of the Zune. Note: I’m not in marketing, but I know enough not to associate a product with suicide. 

Zune users are already lonely; no need to make them sad.

Well, it’s also the team that does the impossible,defying all rumors of extinction and plugging away on a platform no one uses. Maybe while the Zune team is making the rounds, they’ll find out who represents U2.

YUP!

Porn could save the Zune!

I’m locking this topic. There’s little value to discussing the Zune. It’s a failure at achieving the intended goal. It’s like sitting around watching a train wreck after the survivors have left. Nothing left but the gory sights and sounds.