zunes ipod killer

Zunes - iPod Killer?

This week we saw the launch of Zune, the new Microsoft MP3 player, in

the US. It has one key feature that the iPod lacks and that is wifi.

While we have 5 iPods in my house and while I love them dearly I have

been amazed that Apple is yet to release a connected device, and I can

never find the bloody cable as my kids always take it. We are a

technology agnostic house, with three teenage kids we have a strong

demand for new gadgets and the kids dont really get too bothered with

whether it is Apple, Sony, Microsoft, PC or Mac as long as it is cool.

Zune works with the xbox 360, which doesn't really have much content

aside from the games at this stage so as an xbox 360 owner i am happy

with that. The Zune Marketplace, akin to the Apple iStore, is up and

running in the US with an all you can eat for $15 per month. This

looks good, I would subscribe if I had one. You can also swap songs

with friends although there is a 3 play limit before the song self

destructs (or something like that).

In my view the devices that will succeed in the future need to be

connected, well designed (both hardware and interface), the software

needs to be easy to use, there needs to be lots of content and it must

be easy for people to make and share their own content. The final

thing is that in the end the devices that are the most interoperable

will win. Apply this to mobile phones, they have pretty well

ubiquitous connectivity, they are pretty easy to use, they are

designed for people to create content in the form of conversations,

video, pictures and text, there is an increasing amount of mobile

internet content and they all work together no matter who manufactured

them. When you look at a Sony PSP everything is proprietary, you cant

create content for it and it only connects with other PSPs. It is

pretty good for what it does but it could have been a great device had

it been designed by web junkies. That is why we all carry a mobile but

only a few have PSPs.

No doubt Apple will have a connected iPod and an iPod phone in the not

too distant future and with 80% market share the device will not

disappear. Apple have been good in their ability to bring new versions

to market pretty quickly and they won't stand still.

Microsoft has done well to get market share with the xbox and I expect

it will get a reasonable share with Zune. Gadget people will no doubt

have both, just like gamers have xbox and PS2. The best thing about

Microsoft's entry is that we will see increased competition keep

devices affordable and force innovation.

No word on when they will be released here but when they are I will