Reasons Apple iPod killed Zune, not Microsoft!

Zune, the music and video player touted as the closet competitor to Apple iPod was reportedly killed by its creator Microsoft. The various statements making rounds clearly point to a tacit confirmation. This will go down as a iPod's victory to a section of observers, while the rest claim this is an in-house killing by Microsoft itself. Let us see some of the arguments around this.

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Apple's stronghold

Zune never broke into the top 5 while Apple led the sales with a whopping 77%, according to NPD Group Inc. Though Zune differentiated itself from iPod in the exterior - color and shape and interior - software and webservices support, iPod went unchallenged.“We can beat them, but it’s not going to be easy,” Ballmer said in a November 2006 interview. The marketing efforts did not help Microsoft establish itself against iPod.One wonders , if the intesity of marketing matched that of Bing or IE9 or Windows 7 the destiny of Zune could be different.

Distribution channel - wider for Apple

While Apple products as iPod was available globally, Zune started to appear outside homebase only very recently. The other players in the market as Samsung and Sony also made available their products globally. This single-market factor surely limited the penetration of Zune.

User Interface

The Apple iPod as other Apple products are designed with superior user interface. The simplicity and intuition with which it can be used is a clear hit amongst the users. You could browse by singer, song, album or even a playlist. Music took centerstage while controlling it was extremely convenient. While some users miss somefeatures like deleting songs or satellite radio support the iPod in general was packed with the right level of features, without the usual tendency to overload. Zune software was one of the most elegant and well designed user interfaces while keeping it simple. Microsoft, known for competency in software, turned the Zune into a hub for other devices.

Windows Vs Mac

While iPod had a easy sync between the device and the Mac, similar expectations were to be met with the windows breed of users. Apple released the windows support soon after the iPod was released to include the windows user base. The effect of this support was seen clearly onthe sales graph, shooting up around this time.Zune users had to struggle to port the iPod playlists to Zune. While it worked perfectly between Zunes, it did not do so between a Zune and iPod.

iTunes store

The iPod windows support ensured the foudnation, iTunes really pummelled the iPod into the next orbit. The 30GB storage was a stroke of genius, a super hit amongst the users. Apple provided a music store which I could use right in my living room, though it needed my credit card. But this allowed me the flexibility to shuffle around and buy track by track or whole meal, but as I wanted it, when I wanted it.