Ztupid
A found item on Flickr:
The image caption claims that this is at the Zune headquarters. It has been noted that all of the iPods in the bin are of the same generation.
It seems clear to me that this is simply a stunt by the people in the office–but if so, it’s a weird one. I mean, who would ever believe that anyone, even Zune employees, would toss several thousands of dollars of personal property in a box at work? Instead of, say, giving them to family or friends, or selling them on eBay? The expression “strains credulity” comes to mind. The only way I could see that happening was if the company offered a free Zune in exchange. (Lord knows they must have scads of the things available to give away.)
Instead, one would assume that the people in charge at the office set this up and put the iPods in there. But that doesn’t make great sense, either; I mean, it’s a pretty expensive stunt (assuming that they didn’t just have a few dozen iPods around doing nothing), and what’s the payoff? First of all, it immediately comes across as fake, and therefore as lame. Second, the bin is far too big; despite the expense represented here, the physical appearance makes it look like almost nobody participated. And third, how many people will see this display, and even if it were believed, then what possible impact would it have to make the expense worthwhile?
One might assume that it’s simply meant as a humor item (the “bite me” on the sign suggests that), or a morale-booster… but then we get back to the whole lameness issue.
There is also the possibility that this is not from Zune HQ, that it’s a hoax or something, but that’s unlikely, considering the number of iPods in the bin and quality of the bin itself.
And then there’s the faint possibility that it’s intended to be real, that the Zune management believed they’d get employees to dump their iPods in there. I know, that’s too stupid to believe possible. But we are talking about the people who made the Zune, here.
Have to disagree with you on this one – it kind of appeals on the humour front – clearly it’s a marketing gimmick or as you say a morale booster – and why not?
For once it’s not some marketing exec thinking that draping some “TnA” around a product or expounding at how much easier life will be with such technology embedded 24/7 in our lifestyle and time.
They are banging head-to-head with the market progenitor and humourous swipes at each other do bring a smile – and for that I enjoyed it!
I think the humor would have played a lot better had they found a way to have such a large bin overflowing with iPods. They could have put a filler box in the middle of the bin, then surrounded the box with a few hundred fake iPod shells (as long as you’re dumping a few thousand into such a stunt, just get your pre-fab people to gin up cheap shell copies) with a few dozen real iPods thrown on top for the genuine feel. That I would laugh at. However, the emptiness of the bin takes away from the humor, adding the lameness factor I mentioned.
Then there’s the poor execution of the language. The “bite me” slogan on the sign would have more zing if the Zune weren’t such an utter flop in the marketplace; instead, it comes across bitter and resentful. Also, the word “amnesty” sounds too threatening for humor, especially from a big-brother icon like Microsoft. Better to say something flippantly condescending, like “pre-Zune design reject pile,” or even better, put the bin outside a place where you can buy Zunes and make the bin look just like the “Recycle Bin” icon on the Windows Desktop.
But done the way it was done, it just comes across as such a half-assed attempt at un-clever humor, more resentful than smart. So much so that it almost makes you believe that it could be something halfway serious.
I went on a couple of dates with a gal from Microsoft. She’s in marketing, in the division that does embedded OS work in small devices- GPS or phones, handhelds, ATM machines, whatever they can get into. It’s a tiny part of MS overall but they’re still plugging away.
We were talking about those devices and I mentioned what a hunk of crap I thought the Zune was and how dominant the iPod was. She didn’t quite agree with my assessment but said something I found illuminating in how Microsoft thinks sometimes.
She said “but that’s only version 1.0. Wait until we’ve had more time to work things out and see what works.”
Now, I think she’s kidding herself; iPods are ubiquitous for some good reasons. Hell, I’ve got two, a Nano and a video version. (Which, BTW, is stupid; don’t bother with the video, they’re useless. Stick with a Nano.)
But MS has more money than God, and can afford to screw up a time or two while the refine things. They might still get somewhere with the Zune. I don’t think so; to me, there’s iPods and then there’s everything else in the mp3 player world, and nothing distingushes any of the “everything else”, but you probably shouldn’t discount MS from the game just yet.
Paul:
No need to convince me–I have already said as much myself. In a past post on the Zune, I pointed out that virtually every single Microsoft product sucks huge hairy ones when it is first released. Windows, Office, IE–all were horrible, incredibly bad software. Then version 2 came out. The 3, then 4, and so on. Usually by version 6 or 7 it’s good enough–not great, MS seldom does great–but good enough so that with enough pressure using their 95% market share they can virtually force everyone to use it.
Of course, the difference here is that the Zune is not software–it’s hardware, and therefore it’ll be a lot harder for MS to parlay their OS monopoly to make everyone use a Zune, unless they find some legal way of making iPods not play on Windows and keeping Zunes permanently off of Macs. Their tactic on software also has been to give it away free, include it on the desktop, knowing that everyone will use it and depend on it; that won’t work with the Zune. Then there’s the interoperability, depending on everyone needing to use the same systems to share with each other, but the trend towards taking away DRM protection could sink that ship as well. That could still leave MS to come up with some better deal in buying music online and then trapping the music in a Zune-only format… but we’re getting into weak territory.
So, I think the Zune will absolutely improve and MS will have the money to market it… but they won’t be able to depend on their usual means to dominate the market. It’ll grab a certain share, most likely, but I think the iPods will continue to rule the market.