"Had the Zune gained any traction against the iPod?"

[hc2]

http://blog.compete.com/2009/10/16/c...enge-the-ipod/

Had the Zune gained any traction against the iPod or had Apple’s announcements of the prior week tempered enthusiasm for the Zune HD launch? To further explore this I looked at Compete’s data to see how interest shown by online consumers in the Zune HD during its launch week compared to that of the iPod Nano and iPod Touch in the weeks surrounding their recent upgrades.

The addition of a video camera to the iPod Nano resulted in a 700% week over week lift in traffic to Nano specific pages at apple.com during launch week
Traffic to Zune.net, on the other hand, only saw a comparatively modest 90% week to week increase when the Zune HD launched
What’s far more damaging to the Zune HD’s prospects is that the iPod Touch, which hasn’t changed drastically since its redesign in September 2008, drew virtually identical levels of interest from online consumers as the entire Zune.net site during the first two weeks immediately following the Zune HD launch

Hopefully we will see more of an advertising push in the next few weeks.
I checked Best Buy and only one of six stores within 100 miles of 30904 had it in stock. Available online.
One of two local Walmarts had it in stock.
Now I see why they restricted it to the USA initially, the supply chain is still lagging.

[roguemat]

Either way, I got mine and Im happy

I really hope more people see these. Even apple fanboys I show say that its awesome. There are too many great products that never get enough hype to outsell the competition, even though they are superior(IMO). This is one of them.

[Pai]

I think they reason why Microsoft isn't pushing the ZuneHD is for 2 reasons.
1. They are slowing phasing out hardware, and is focusing on pushing the ZUNE service like ITUNES.
2. ZuneHD is not ready for prime time, the zune team probably knows this. The media functions work very well, but consumers are going to ask for more, and it just doesn't deliver yet without the Nov update.

[Marvin the Martian]

The simple answer to this thread title is No.
Is it a nice device? Sure. But are they going to gain much market share? Doubtful.

[Olley]

It seems to me that if the person in charge over the Zune crew would really commit, then the Zune HD "could have" truly been better than and more desirable than the ipod touch. Demand already seems to have outstripped supply, and that's a sure sign they don't really know what the potential is for a WiFi capable device with a big screen but still then and pocketable.

The U.S. landed men on the moon (that's impossible!) within a decade of really beginning to try to. It's a sad state for mankind if someone with the width and breadth of capability like MS isn't even willing to REALLY try and do the impossible.... to overtake Apple in media player sales. So either this Zune HD is going to eventually get email, calendar, etc., or they've already lost the game.

[quintets_man]

The obvious answer as of right now is no. The HD has the potential to outpace them, but as it is that's not going to happen. Too many consumers out their they expect a device like the HD to be a variant of the iTouch/Phone which it isn't. It just a media player, and that's not very appealing right now. Many people expect a device like this to do everything for them and it won't.

If MS were to add a ton of apps and other features then it could outpace apple, but as it is, a media player won't beat them.

But this is all just my opinion.

[effortless]

^ sooo you're telling me there's a chance?? haha

hopefully we get some figures out at years end. i have a little side bet w/ my apple fanboy friend about the zunehd making a difference this yr. we shall seeeeee

[effortless]

everyone's allowed to have an opinion.. we'll let the numbers speak for themselves at the end of the year though. My position is in the tech field and i keep up w/ gadgets all the time. the hype, how they are marketed and supply + demand. So far so good for the zhd, so we'll wait it out and see

[ImmyFTW]

I wonder what the process is for creating a new device?
Im curious as to why it seems to be so difficult for MS to take that extra step vs being one step behind? Protocols? Lack of budget? Yes what they did come up was very cool, good got the zhd team, but regardless, its still below the expected consumer standard from my perception of everyone here.

Is something bigger the culprit behind the scene? Not as big like some conspiracy, but rather....okay maybe something that big? >_>;

[roguemat]

Originally Posted by ImmyFTW

I wonder what the process is for creating a new device?
Im curious as to why it seems to be so difficult for MS to take that extra step vs being one step behind? Protocols? Lack of budget? Yes what they did come up was very cool, good got the zhd team, but regardless, its still below the expected consumer standard from my perception of everyone here.

Is something bigger the culprit behind the scene? Not as big like some conspiracy, but rather....okay maybe something that big? >_>;

Imagine if they opened up a app store from day one. Firstly they would be sent tons of apps(well, obviously not right at the start). So they could they just accept them all or have to sift through all the apps making sure they are all ok. In the former, what if someone does something dodgy in their app and it causes something on the zune to freak out? And the latter, they would need a ton of new employees, which until its proven as a popular platform, isnt really viable.
This is just my opinion of course. I focus on the app store thing above because thats the only fault I can see that people could have

[ImmyFTW]

Hm, good point. I think they would not lose much to postpone the launch by a year and surprise everyone? In fact, it could be a good investment to work on a product like that for a year. Although with the rate of change and advancement, I guess its not such a great idea in the end?

[Joshnor713]

I am a big Zune HD fan. The team did a great job putting this thing together and getting it out the door. But, if the Zune team is not heavily working on its software support, then I'd have to say the HD is going nowhere. There are so many things the device needs through firmware updates, I really hope they are on this. I just wish they would let us know what's going on. Personally, as a company, I wouldn't like to leave my consumers in the dark when they're giving a legit complaint about my product, especially if they're an early supporter of it.

[Pai]

They probably decided to release Zune in Sep, just because it beats Apple's release date for the iPods. If you think about it the timing is just perfect, which might also explains the lack of advertisement. I think a better release date would be the same day the upcoming update drops.