Zune price slashed to under $200
Pre-Apple announcement
Microsoft has cut the price of its Zune 30GB wireless portable media player by $50 (£25/€38) in the US. The announcement came a day before Apple is expected to announce revamped iPods and iPod Nanos.
MS' Zune: not yet the consumers' fave
The Microsoft announcement appeared on the Zune development team's blog and stated that the player will now retail for $200 (£100/€125). Apple's fifth-generation, iPod, which also has a 30GB capacity, currently retails for around $249/£179 (€190).
Apparently, the price cut is just part of the normal product lifecycle and something Microsoft has had on the books for several months, the company claimed. Indeed, Microsoft has already also cut the price of its Xbox 360 range across the globe.
Zune features a 3in display and a built-in FM radio, and can be connected up to a music downloads service called Zune Marketplace. It's available in a range of colours, including red and black, as well as a special edition Halo 3 design.
Microsoft confirmed in July that it would be releasing an updated Zune model, dubbed Zune 2.0, in the US in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, although very little is yet know about the new model's capabilities.
Of course European consumers won't gain much benefit from the price cut, because Zune is not expected to arrive here until 2008. Although, anyone biting their nails away with anticipation could always hop over to the States and pick one up for the reduced price.
COMMENTS
But someone think of the early adopters!
I bet all six of the people who bought a Zune last month wil be pissed!
You have a RAID 5 on your iPod?
How do you get all those drives in there?
@Microsoft Exchange Rate
Actually, I was more interested in MS's USD > EUR rate:
A quick check on xe.com:
USD 200 = GBP 98.97
USD 200 = EUR 146.45
It looks like we are getting a fair deal (for once), but Johnny Frenchman et al. are getting a better deal than Hank Fatburger....
Maybe
Microsoft Exchange Rate
Blimey! I didn't realize that Microsoft had their own Euro & Pound Stirling exchange rate! What next? A monopoly on desktop operating system?
Or maybe Bill's mate Gordon doesn't charge them VAT.
Zune 1.5
If MS really wants to jumpstart the Zune market, they should release an iPod accessory that adds wireless sharing between Zunes and iPods. Spread the Social(tm)!
That's one of Zune's differentiating features - if they show iPod owners how cool a $40 add-on can make their iPod, it's a viral device to get iPod owners to take another look at Zune proper. If they sell it at a *slight* profit, they may even find their iPod aftermarket device is more profitable than the Zune itself... but it's a win-win situation either way.
I'm an iPod owner, but those Zunes *do* have great screens, and I like those gummy cases... if only they were comptaible with my 800 CDs all converted into Apple Lossless and kept on my RAID 5 array... *sigh*
