Review of Microsoft's Greatest Failure: Zune has the power, almost absolute, to remain relevant in the market, which means that Microsoft automatically has a great capacity to adapt to the market itself. However, even Microsoft has its drawbacks, including its inability to adapt to the market, resulting in few of its products being called failures. In this report, a closer look at Microsoft's inability to adapt will be presented from one of its products, in which the case was beaten by an already established rival, resulting in the product's downfall : Zune. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayIntroductionZune: Microsoft's Greatest FailureWhat's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "digital music player"? Over the years, most people have associated this term with the Apple iPod. Since 2004, Apple had already dominated the digital music player industry, making Apple the sole powerhouse (Ziberg, 2012). Did Apple have challengers and competitors? They indeed had a competitor from the historic operator of the technology industry, which is none other than Microsoft. Have you ever heard the word “Zune”? If he doesn't, it's probably because he hasn't made a name for himself either. Zune is a digital music player of Microsoft's own, released in late 2006, under the name Zune 30. Zune actually has a dual meaning, one being the music player gadget itself and the other being the software that completes the gadget (Wikipedia, 2018). Zune: Walkthrough Before meeting its fate as an abandoned gadget, Zune had several versions in its lineup. There are four generations and seven types in the short-lived history of the Zune (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes: The ancestor of the Zune device had its own signature, which is a brown-colored and bulky-sized device. This generation of Zune and all its predecessors have the same core functionality of sharing songs with other Zune users via wireless technology, which at the time was not yet common. Unfortunately, this feature has its weakness which is the limit of three times in three days for transferred songs. Updates on this generation include the different size of the device's memory capacity and the Zune Pad which is known to be sensitive for its user touch. The only update this generation is to the device's memory size, one of which is the largest size for a music player gadget ever released. Unlike its Zune Pad-using ancestors, the Zune HD was already a touchscreen device. Coming from the established industry, one has to wonder why the gadget could be a massive failure, since it had the same features and capabilities as Apple's iPod and it also had many of the company's resources supporting the gadget (St ., 2009). . Where did it go wrong? What happened to the Zune that caused it to fail hopelessly? Through this report we will learn what happened and, perhaps, Microsoft can also learn from this mistake. Before meeting its fate as an abandoned gadget, Zune had several versions in its lineup, four generations and seven types precisely (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes: AnalysisTo help better understand the problem, the SCQ analysis tool will be used in this report and KIA analysis will follow thereafter. The analysis is as follows:SituationMicrosoft, the companymultinational technology company whose most powerful weapon is computer software, has launched a digital music player. The digital music player is not the first of its kind. Experts believed, before the Zune's launch, that Zune can beat the iPod in the digital music player market. Complication The iPod was already dominating the market when Zune was launched. Zune sales never reached Microsoft's goal, there wasn't even a significant increase. Even Zune fans weren't happy with Zune. Question What caused Zune's failure to beat the iPod? The key question "What caused Zune's failure to beat the iPod?" can be broken down into several problems as follows: Assumptions: Zune failed to beat the iPod because it was always late in releasing its product. Analysis: Zune didn't go down without a fight. Based on the introduction in the previous chapter, Zune released several such types each year from 2006 to 2009, resulting in four generations and seven types of Zune device. Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts were not enough, or even had almost no impact. Compared to the digital music player giant, Zune was always late to the party (Covert, 2011). It almost always released its product two years after the release of its equivalent iPod brand product. For an exact comparison, it would be acceptable for Zune to arrive late once or twice, even if that meant the door opener product was the one launched late. Shockingly, Microsoft managed to release all Zune devices late, rendering the products useless in the market at that time. Assumptions: Zune didn't even get a chance to shine because it didn't have any notable differences that set it apart from the iPod. Analysis: In general, the specifications of each generation of Zune and those of iPods are about the same. Obviously, they have different types of approach in the style of their products (Malley, 2017), like the menu interface (Zune is more focused on typography design, the font is even patented) or as simple than its outward appearance, that of Zune is bolder while the iPod is more chic (Costello, 2018). Zune had several features that were not present on the iPod and could be considered the few strong points of Zune, one of them was the Wi-Fi functionality, which was very advanced for its time, making thus this feature is useless, especially for a digital music player. Assumptions: Zune wasn't expensive but it wasn't cheap either, especially when compared to the iPod, which makes its competitive potential even less. Analysis: With its equivalent product, Zune was relatively cheaper than the iPod. But then every Zune product and its equivalent had a gap of at least 2 years between the release date. From that point on, a relatively cheaper price wasn't really an option when it should have been much cheaper. To be more specific, the prices of the two products will also be compared based on their release dates. The prices of the two products were relatively in the same range. With much improved specifications, the iPod has unerringly won the competition on price. The three key issues mentioned were affecting sales of Zune devices. Sales barely met Microsoft's target as the Zune initially held only 3% market share (Robins, 2009), the maximum being 4%, while the iPod held a total of 71% (Kreps , 2009). If we compare them to iPod sales, only one word could describe the situation: tragic. iPod sales during the year fluctuated widely.

Essay / Review of Microsoft's Greatest Failure: Zune has the power, almost absolute, to remain relevant in the market, which means that Microsoft automatically has a great capacity to adapt to the market itself. However, even Microsoft has its drawbacks, including its inability to adapt to the market, resulting in few of its products being called failures. In this report, a closer look at Microsoft's inability to adapt will be presented from one of its products, in which the case was beaten by an already established rival, resulting in the product's downfall : Zune. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayIntroductionZune: Microsoft's Greatest FailureWhat's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "digital music player"? Over the years, most people have associated this term with the Apple iPod. Since 2004, Apple had already dominated the digital music player industry, making Apple the sole powerhouse (Ziberg, 2012). Did Apple have challengers and competitors? They indeed had a competitor from the historic operator of the technology industry, which is none other than Microsoft. Have you ever heard the word “Zune”? If he doesn't, it's probably because he hasn't made a name for himself either. Zune is a digital music player of Microsoft's own, released in late 2006, under the name Zune 30. Zune actually has a dual meaning, one being the music player gadget itself and the other being the software that completes the gadget (Wikipedia, 2018). Zune: Walkthrough Before meeting its fate as an abandoned gadget, Zune had several versions in its lineup. There are four generations and seven types in the short-lived history of the Zune (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes: The ancestor of the Zune device had its own signature, which is a brown-colored and bulky-sized device. This generation of Zune and all its predecessors have the same core functionality of sharing songs with other Zune users via wireless technology, which at the time was not yet common. Unfortunately, this feature has its weakness which is the limit of three times in three days for transferred songs. Updates on this generation include the different size of the device's memory capacity and the Zune Pad which is known to be sensitive for its user touch. The only update this generation is to the device's memory size, one of which is the largest size for a music player gadget ever released. Unlike its Zune Pad-using ancestors, the Zune HD was already a touchscreen device. Coming from the established industry, one has to wonder why the gadget could be a massive failure, since it had the same features and capabilities as Apple's iPod and it also had many of the company's resources supporting the gadget (St ., 2009). . Where did it go wrong? What happened to the Zune that caused it to fail hopelessly? Through this report we will learn what happened and, perhaps, Microsoft can also learn from this mistake. Before meeting its fate as an abandoned gadget, Zune had several versions in its lineup, four generations and seven types precisely (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes: AnalysisTo help better understand the problem, the SCQ analysis tool will be used in this report and KIA analysis will follow thereafter. The analysis is as follows:SituationMicrosoft, the companymultinational technology company whose most powerful weapon is computer software, has launched a digital music player. The digital music player is not the first of its kind. Experts believed, before the Zune's launch, that Zune can beat the iPod in the digital music player market. Complication The iPod was already dominating the market when Zune was launched. Zune sales never reached Microsoft's goal, there wasn't even a significant increase. Even Zune fans weren't happy with Zune. Question What caused Zune's failure to beat the iPod? The key question "What caused Zune's failure to beat the iPod?" can be broken down into several problems as follows: Assumptions: Zune failed to beat the iPod because it was always late in releasing its product. Analysis: Zune didn't go down without a fight. Based on the introduction in the previous chapter, Zune released several such types each year from 2006 to 2009, resulting in four generations and seven types of Zune device. Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts were not enough, or even had almost no impact. Compared to the digital music player giant, Zune was always late to the party (Covert, 2011). It almost always released its product two years after the release of its equivalent iPod brand product. For an exact comparison, it would be acceptable for Zune to arrive late once or twice, even if that meant the door opener product was the one launched late. Shockingly, Microsoft managed to release all Zune devices late, rendering the products useless in the market at that time. Assumptions: Zune didn't even get a chance to shine because it didn't have any notable differences that set it apart from the iPod. Analysis: In general, the specifications of each generation of Zune and those of iPods are about the same. Obviously, they have different types of approach in the style of their products (Malley, 2017), like the menu interface (Zune is more focused on typography design, the font is even patented) or as simple than its outward appearance, that of Zune is bolder while the iPod is more chic (Costello, 2018). Zune had several features that were not present on the iPod and could be considered the few strong points of Zune, one of them was the Wi-Fi functionality, which was very advanced for its time, making thus this feature is useless, especially for a digital music player. Assumptions: Zune wasn't expensive but it wasn't cheap either, especially when compared to the iPod, which makes its competitive potential even less. Analysis: With its equivalent product, Zune was relatively cheaper than the iPod. But then every Zune product and its equivalent had a gap of at least 2 years between the release date. From that point on, a relatively cheaper price wasn't really an option when it should have been much cheaper. To be more specific, the prices of the two products will also be compared based on their release dates. The prices of the two products were relatively in the same range. With much improved specifications, the iPod has unerringly won the competition on price. The three key issues mentioned were affecting sales of Zune devices. Sales barely met Microsoft's target as the Zune initially held only 3% market share (Robins, 2009), the maximum being 4%, while the iPod held a total of 71% (Kreps , 2009). If we compare them to iPod sales, only one word could describe the situation: tragic. iPod sales during the year fluctuated widely.

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