Discussion about
What about Samsung making Zune music devices...?
As a loyal Zune Pass subscriber and a Zune 120 owner I was a little upset when Microsoft announced that they would no longer be producing Zune hardware. I understand why they are doing it they are way behind in the smartphone race, however I just don’t see why they would abandon music fans like this. No matter what you say until a Windows Phone 7 device has a battery that can last as long as a dedicated music player can those of us who listen to music a great deal and don’t want to be stuck charging their phone so frequently. I was pretty surprised they even got into the MP3/PMP game with Apple controlling the market so much. Regardless of that they got into the game and created a well received and well built machine in the Zune HD. They have good PC software and Zune Pass is a great service that continues to get better and compete with similar services. I am with many people who think that Microsoft would do well by releasing a Zune app for Android and/or iOS. Perhaps there is another way, with Microsoft recently getting involved with Samsung through patents and of course Samsung’s Focus Windows Phone 7 devices. Samsung has recently released Android based PMPs. Why not have Samsung produce a Zune device that could run Windows Phone 7 and thus allow those of us who enjoy the Zune services but may not either be able to afford or desire a smartphone or just like having a dedicated media player along with their smartphone to do so. I personally think this would be a great idea and would not cannibalize the smartphone business.
As rikkit says, there's nothing wrong with the idea.
It's just that as Paul Thurrott said in a recent episode of Windows Weekly, if it was an independently branded e.g. Samsung device, they'd sell 200K of these and that would be that. Discounting any specific numbers, Zune just doesn't have the market presence or awareness to make any kind of volume worthwhile.
I mean, I'm a generally enthusiastic (and maybe occasionally frustrated) WP7 and Zune user, and even for me, all that immediately pops into my head when you mention "Zune" is that obese greasy guy with the tat on his arm :p And for the majority, I think while that ham-like arm may not float into view when you say 'Zune' I do think the wider market regards it as either uncool, irrelevant or a failure.
Put it this way, I'm not exactly the world's least technologically aware guy and if I hadn't bought into Zune Pass by buying a Windows Phone and needed a compatible PMP, I would *never* have bought a Zune HD. There wouldn't have been any point. And I'd have been pretty happy to live in complete ignorance of this pretty stellar PMP.
I personally think an "XBox Portable" which would incorporate Zune and run WP7 software /games would be a good idea. And if it existed, it would have to come from Microsoft, and not anyone else (Anyone else can make it though, you understand).
And honestly, I think that's the only way they can pitch it for the machine to gain any kind of traction - in which case they would, for starters, have to massively ramp up the title catalog for Microsoft-published WP7 games. But you have to appreciate that it's a huge uphill struggle against the entrenched iPod.
It's just that as Paul Thurrott said in a recent episode of Windows Weekly, if it was an independently branded e.g. Samsung device, they'd sell 200K of these and that would be that. Discounting any specific numbers, Zune just doesn't have the market presence or awareness to make any kind of volume worthwhile.
I mean, I'm a generally enthusiastic (and maybe occasionally frustrated) WP7 and Zune user, and even for me, all that immediately pops into my head when you mention "Zune" is that obese greasy guy with the tat on his arm :p And for the majority, I think while that ham-like arm may not float into view when you say 'Zune' I do think the wider market regards it as either uncool, irrelevant or a failure.
Put it this way, I'm not exactly the world's least technologically aware guy and if I hadn't bought into Zune Pass by buying a Windows Phone and needed a compatible PMP, I would *never* have bought a Zune HD. There wouldn't have been any point. And I'd have been pretty happy to live in complete ignorance of this pretty stellar PMP.
I personally think an "XBox Portable" which would incorporate Zune and run WP7 software /games would be a good idea. And if it existed, it would have to come from Microsoft, and not anyone else (Anyone else can make it though, you understand).
And honestly, I think that's the only way they can pitch it for the machine to gain any kind of traction - in which case they would, for starters, have to massively ramp up the title catalog for Microsoft-published WP7 games. But you have to appreciate that it's a huge uphill struggle against the entrenched iPod.
You make good points I think my thinking stems mainly from the lack of reason for getting into the PMP device business in the first place. I will say I am glad they did but I feel that the as you put it going up against the entrenched iPod was a losing battle. Unless of course they could have come out at a price that under cut the iPod drastically and let the great Zune software and Zune Pass make up for the loss on the hardware. After all the original Xbox was never profitable so its not like this would have been something out of the blue. I also agree with you that Xbox is a well established name now and a portable gaming device would be the way to go now. But that wont happen although I have stated in the past and on this site that I would love to see a WP7 device that had a gamepad. It would be great to see what those who made the attractive Zune HD could do especially since they are not working on any hardware with the demise of the Zune HD hardware. I know that Microsoft will not be doing any of this and my post was more of a hope than a belief that it would happen. Just seems that they would really benefit from getting Zune out there more whether that be by apps or on hardware built by other companies.
