As you all know already, Microsoft finally confirmed their long rumored plans to launch an iPod killer by the end of this year (more precisely, sometime around Christmas). But are they really going to kill it?Let’s think of the facts we are facing: first of all, Zune is meant to be an iPod killer. So there is one insurmountable…catch that Microsoft is not yet ready to deal with: even the nick-name points to the dominant rival (Zune as “the iPod killer”). Microsoft is probably intending to remove as much as possible the iPod from customers mind but even before its official “birth” Zune is associated with it.
Despite the grim and threatening nick-name, Zune is seen as a competitor for “the king” not as a stand-alone product, with its unique features and advantages.That means that when a customer wants to buy a Redmond-manufactured MP3 player (or whatever they are readying, but we’ll talk about that later) they are going to make at least one comparison: is it or is it not better than the iPod? And do you think Microsoft officials are going to be happy about that?Allow me to remind you another “classical” example: Xbox vs. PS2. In 2001, when they launched the first edition of Xbox, both customers and analysts saw it like a normal entry for Microsoft into the increasingly big gaming market.
No one thought Xbox would be THE “PlayStation killer”, probably because Sony already had a few strong rivals like Nintendo or SEGA.But this is not the case with iPod. Apple’s product has become a mass phenomenon and, accompanied by the music download service iTunes, it dominates the digital-sound world and it dictates the price. And who dictates the price also the lion’s share, wouldn’t you agree? OTHER HALF..
