Guest blogger for Last100.com Michael Pinto, says he knows how to save the Zune. And, he just might! In a very well conceived article on the aforementioned Last 100 site Pinto Creative Director of Very Memorable, Inc. a design firm that specializing with interactive media and the youth market, was quoted as saying:
With the iPhone taking away the mind space of the iPod, the Zune already seems to be in an orphan category with consumers.
And once again cited the recent announcement by GameStop to cease the stocking of Microsoft Zune products due to lack of customer interest (hasn’t everybody and their brother taken a shot at this?) as proof of this. Perhaps a good point but never the less it’s usage is at critical mass.
Anyway, he further states that the Zune is still not cool enough to garner mass appear for a device that’s supposed to be a status symbol.
He writes:
I’ve seen a Zune in the wild was while I was running through Kmart. Now think about that for a second: The biggest market for this device would be those hungry for music — tweens, teens and young adults. This market is very style conscience to say the least, and the one place they might encounter this device is in-between the linens and pantry items.
Pretty good observation I hate to admit but, it is…Now all we need to know is what to do about it?
Well, he has some thoughts on that too (I bet that didn’t surprise you, did it?):
The first problem with the Zune is it’s price point, which ranges from $150 to $200. This is a disaster as the iPod, which is seen as more high end, sells the shuffle for $50. Zune needs to be Pepsi to Apple’s Coke in this department and have their main product on the lower end of the cost spectrum. In fact, the best thing for Zune to do is to have a $25 model if they want to thrive in a recession based economy. On the low end, the iPod shuffle doesn’t even feature a screen, however, what makes it work so well is that it acts as a fashion accessory more than anything else. Zune needs to focus more on the form factor rather than the technology inside the device.
Hmm…A $25 model, what would that be like? I’m guess not much more different from an iPod shuffle! Some pretty interesting ideas indeed.
As always, Stay Cool my Babies…
