The ZuneHD is near and this video preview from Cnet speaks of all the features on the new Zune player and what the experts think of it.
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!Discuss this in the Zune Message Boards.
Tags: zunehdDiscuss this in the Zune Message Boards.
Tags: top 40, top albums, top zune, zune top 10, zune-music
So we all know there have been some huge changes coming Zune and to be honest it’s been a great big question mark as to what Microsoft would do to shake things up. I’ve been sitting back and watching this with little to say on the matter since Microsoft released those horrible holiday sales stats which show Zune losing over 100 million of their hard earned dollars 
I did not say much when they posted stories about huge layoffs at Xbox and Zune and even though it hurt to see him go, I didn’t have much to say about the departure of our longtime friend Cesar from the Zune team. It got to be a drag trying to keep up so I set back and waited for signs of a direction and now it appears we have one.
The Zune team will be split into two divisions based on hardware and software. The software team will focus on putting Zune on every other device on the market while the hardware team will continue to develop and manufacture Microsoft devices. The Zune lives on and maybe we’ll begin to see all the wonderful features we wanted in the beginning with the new and improved Zune family.
We’re hoping for great big things from the software division and the upcoming release of Windows Mobile 6.5 is the first big step. Screenshots from the latest update to the Microsoft mobile operating system show new links to the Microsoft Marketplace. And today we find out that Microsoft will be opening up retail stores a la Apple and actually retailing their products in their own stores for the first time in company history.
Is the new Microsoft really just the old Apple in disguise? Will the juggernaut of technology be able to become the juggernaut of consumer electronics in America? Will a Microsoft store with Windows, Zune and Xbox for sale make it in a recession or should they have considered a staffed boutique inside Best Buy or even Walmart?
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!We’re just days away from Mobile World Congress where Microsoft is expected to make a few notable annoucements. Until then, we have to settle for all the hints and innuendo we can gather as Redmond attempts to win back the hearts, minds, and pocketbooks of consumers infatuated with Android, WebOS, and whatever Apple’s got cookin’. Like these supposed 6.5 screenshots above, this time showing what looks like a Marketplace store a la the Zune.
Discuss this in the Zune Message Boards.
Tags: Zune
Microsoft’s SkyBox site live, branded My Phone? - Engadget Mobile
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!It appears that Microsoft may have its SkyBox beta sign-up site up and running in preparation for a Mobile World Congress unveiling — except that it’s not called SkyBox, it’s called “My Phone” (even though the domain is getskybox.com — go figure). The phone-to-cloud syncing service promises to make transferring contacts, appointments, tasks, photos, videos, music, text messages, and documents between Windows Mobile 6 (and above) phones a breeze, and even better, the service is free “at this time.” If the details are accurate here, we can expect 200MB of online storage courtesy of your friends at Microsoft, but don’t bother trying to sign up — it craps out as soon as you try. Soon, friends, soon.
Rumor: The “Zune Phone” Won’t Be Made by Microsoft?
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!According to one of Mary-Jo Foley’s sources, Microsoft is not building a Zune phone. Instead, they’re crafting sample chassis to inspire manufacturers as to what will excite the market.
In this way, Microsoft is able to have their cake and eat it too. They build the bar high through a concept, then they pit manufacturers against one another to polish and mass manufacture the idea. Are you confused? That’s only because it is confusing.
Is Microsoft in deep trouble or what? I don’t think they will die off altogether but there is no doubt the company is seeing more difficult times than ever before. They just announced they would cut up to 5000 employees this year and they have no idea what things are goign to be like financially for the next 6 months or better.
Microsoft slashing up to 5,000 jobs - Earnings- msnbc.com
The mass job cuts announced Thursday are highly unusual for Microsoft. The maker of Windows and Office computer software, which was founded in 1975, has tended to hold up well even when the economy is weak and has only had a smattering of small layoffs, usually because of an acquisition or other change.
Up until recently Microsoft had continued to add staff, albeit at a slower pace than before.
“It’s certainly a historical move,” longtime technology analyst Rob Enderle said.
Historically Microsoft has been able to weather trying economic times but that’s not the case this time around. The worlds largest software maker is struggling to find new direction with consumer products like Xbox and Zune which are meeting limited success and costing the company billions in cash each year as they try to buy there way into new markets with what may end up the final gifts from the cash cow Windows and Office which are taking a beating from open source competition and a backlash against anything Microsoft in the world of technology.
The biggest problem Microsoft may face is the loss of the largest base as more and more users find alternatives to the Windows Operating systems and PC computers become less important in a world of internet enabled mobile devices. Microsoft has tried to make headway with Windows Mobile and now the Zune family of devices but their grip on the mobile market is a joke when compared to the grip they still hold on the PC market.
The failure of Vista to capture any real market share has cost them years in development and billions in lost revenues as everyone holds on for Windows 7 and any real improvement over XP which has become more than enough for the average computer user. The issues with Vista at launch and the lack of adoption from everyone from end users to p[c manufacturers has cost them deeply and may cost them much more. Recent news is that the “Vista Capable” marketing campaign could lead to loses of up to 8.5 Billion for what can best be described as deceptive marketing
As more users move to other devices including mobile phones, game consoles and other internet appliances Microsoft is forced to grow in more directions and the sheer size of the company has led to a non cohesive approach to things that seem to blow up in their face. The number of PR fumbles are ridiculous and it seems no matter what they do or say it blows up in their face. Zune is a perfect example of what is wrong with Microsoft. They seem to have done just about everything you could to insure it failed by crippling the advanced hardware and much touted Social features.
Maybe Bill saw the writing on the walls and bailed out on high note. Maybe Ballmer will save them or maybe Google will just buy them. Who knows?
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!The leader of Zune has spoken on all sorts of things Zune. It’s pretty much what we have expected. The Zune phone will in fact never exist. It’s going to be Zune mobile software on a variety of devices.
Microsoft is backing up the Zune and will continue to produce hardware devices for the Zune software and marketplace which are apparently the prime driving force for and reason for Zune according to Bach. The software is reason enopugh to keep going as they see it so the idea of a 3 to 5 year plan for Zune still seems correct
Check out the following article for more details.
Microsoft’s Bach talks about Zune
On the future of MP3 players, such as the Zune, as capabilities continue to be added to smart phones: We have already started to see some flattening and even declining in the stand-alone MP3 player market. I think you’ll see that continue. As phones get more capable, as battery life gets better, people’s desire to have their music with them along with their phone is certainly going to go up.Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!
Debugging the Zune Blackout | Freedom to Tinker
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!On December 31, some models of the Zune, Microsoft’s portable music player, went dark. The devices were unusable until the following day. Failures like this are sometimes caused by complex chains of mishaps, but this particular one is due to a single programming error that is reasonably easy to understand. Let’s take a look.
Here is the offending code (reformatted slightly), in the part of the Zune’s software that handles dates and times:
year = 1980;
while (days > 365) {
if (IsLeapYear(year)) {
if (days > 366) {
days -= 366;
year += 1;
}
} else {
days -= 365;
year += 1;
}
}At the beginning of this code, the variable days is the number of days that have elapsed since January 1, 1980. Given this information, the code is supposed to figure out (a) what year it is, and (b) how many days have elapsed since January 1 of the current year. (Footnote for pedants: here “elapsed since” actually means “elapsed including”, so that days=1 on January 1, 1980.)
Man, poor Microsoft can’t seem to catch a break. Someone decided to release an app for the iPhone so they could do some testing and the app was release with porno pics in it.
How anyone can let something like this happen on is beyond me. I think they have a mole in the company that keeps doing crap like this to them in order to make them look bad. Remember the horrible pics that showed up in the Zune software? The crying chick and the two girls locked in an erotic grip? how does this stuff even get into a department in their company?
Microsoft slammed in iPhone porno shocker - Wired - NZ Herald News
Microsoft’s Seadragon application for the iPhone is copping heat for distributing porn to unsuspecting users of Apple’s device.Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now!Users of MacRumors forums were horrified to discover that the graphics viewer - which includes an impressive collection of images from the Library of Congress and NASA - was packed with adult content. It was being stored in folders relating to Microsoft’s Photosynth.
Discuss this in the Zune Message Boards.
Tags: iphone, iphone porn, MicrosoftIn all the talk about a Zune Phone there has been lots said about whether or not Microsoft would actually manufacture their own phone under the Zune brand and risk long standing partnerships with mobile partners like Motorola or if they would instead create a software application with Zune features on their existing Windows Mobile smartphones.
The idea has been that by creating a Zune phone they can still offer the Windows Mobile OS for other phone makers without directly. That never sounded like the plan to me especially after seeing how fast Microsoft bailed out on their PlaysForSure commitments. It’s obvious Microsoft does not have a problem backing out of something and with the gaining strength of Apple and the iPhone someone in Redmond needs to step up.
The article below was written by the original Zune fan, Matt Hickey with Cnet. He took the first picture of a Zune and has been following the Zune story as long as we have. His latest piece of Zune news is related to the mysterious Pink Project at Zune. The rumors have been all over the place on this but it definitely has something to do with Zune on mobile phones.
Will Zune do Windows Mobile? Looks likely | Crave - CNET
I live in Seattle. I run with the Microsoft/Amazon/Real/Whatever circle of geeks in the area. Sadly, because I’m a technology journalist, this means that when I run into them at parties they often have to clam up. I was, though, fortunate enough to have a sneak peek at a prototype Zune more than two years ago before anyone knew what it would look like or do. I was also lucky enough to snap a shot of it with my Treo. This became the first public photo of the device. It was black and white and wrapped in its own headphones, you might remember it. You could say I broke the Zune. I thus love the Zune. I pay close attention to what the Zune teams are doing. I listen to the Zune rumors. I have my ear to the Zune ground.
And I can tell you this: There will be a cellular communications device with Zune-like features in the near future.
I’m not sure if Microsoft will call it the “Zune phone” (unlikely), or if it’ll just be a device that interacts with the excellent Zune Marketplace (likely), or a combo of the two. I’d even expect something like “Windows Mobile, now with Zune!” or something to that effect.
Matt and some others have been debating this for sometime now. Zune phone rumors are as old as the Zune. Someone at MobilitySite.com sees what I envisioned long ago with a Zune Live Mesh. Two years ago and before any announcements were made. My original thought was that they would integrate Zune into the existing Xbox Live system and offer music with your games. I guess we’ll have that but it won’t necessarily be a mesh of Xbox and Zune but a triple threat with and improved version of Windows Mobile.This keeps in line with my ideas of Zune being the portable division of the “Live Anywhere Initiative”. Zune won’t just be about music but will include portable game and mobile phone devices with interoperability and information sharing a key component.
Not Zune Phone…Zune Mobile? | Mobility Site
I can’t help feeling there is some kind of Zune + Live Mesh convergence coming which will be a serious attack by MS on Apple’s iTunes citadel. Cloud based, DRM free music storage, accessed by any Windows based phone or Netbook or Zune device via Live Mesh. One media folder, one log on, one set of preferences. Add in The Social to create community and track preferences and playlists…always available, always synced, MP3 and video stored on the Cloud and streamed therefore freeing up precious device storage space. It certainly sounds compelling.
Zune Mobile as a set of mobile services and software applications seems expected from the worlds largest software company but is that all we can expect? Is Microsoft satisfied that 56 phone manufacturers using Windows Mobile software were unable to stop Apple and the iPhone from taking over as the leading smartphone? I have my doubts. I’m starting to think like Paul from WinSupersite does.
How to fix Windows Mobile - SuperSite Blog
Well. They are going to do that, sorry. I’d argue that Microsoft’s relationships with handset makers is, in fact, its biggest weakness in the mobile market. In fact, in looking over this article, I see lots of interesting information about Windows Mobile, but precious little in the way of good advice. Yes, Microsoft needs an online store. Duh. But no, they already get cloud computing, so that’s a silly non-starter. Microsoft needs to take control of its future in the smart phone market and it can’t do that unless it makes its own devices or its partner make serious, Apple-like concessions. Guess which one is more likely?
I think the best thing Microsoft could do in the phone market is to jump in feet first. They should leave Windows mobile as a business oriented operating systems for those manufacturers who want to run it but they should create a new user experience with their own devices under the Zune brand just like they did with PlaysForSure. If you look back it was the same situation except arguably now a much larger deal with the mobile phone market much more important to Microsoft than music. In the music game Microsoft was gaining no ground with bad partnerships and Apple was taking the lead with almost no competition. Now we have the exact same situation in the mobile phone market with Apple again taking the lead almost unchecked by a slew of Microsoft powered partners.
Is it Microsoft their software that’s lacking or the use of it? Well in this case it’s Windows Mobile and the lack of a touch interface that may be causing the most trouble but before the iPhone ever existed Microsoft was the better software and still only had a 13 or 14% market share. Why would they stick it out with 50 or more partners who are unable to grab more than 20% market share when they could just as easily make as much from selling their own branded phones and forget about the headaches of these partnerships. If you look at many of the phone manufacturers they are already moving towards other operating systems and Microsoft may end up the last user of their own software.
Maybe the best way for Microsoft to compete with Apple as a consumer electronics brand is to take them head on in the hardware market utilizing Apple’s own business model of proprietary hardware and software for everything but the PC which must be left open for the Windows cash cow to continue it’s flow.
Maybe Zune Mobile is a part of that attack and we can expect to see the mobile services described by Mary Jo at ZD Net. These premium mobile services would a first step in the right direction for Microsoft. they could leverage the strength of their existing services by combining them all under one umbrella service now while they continue development on the right devices to take it beyond. Zune Mobile may be a knee jerk reaction to the alarming success of the iPhone or a calculated move in a more serious and long term approach to the Apple problem Microsoft faces.
Written by Alfred @ Zune MAX - Check out my Zune Card in the Zune forums now! |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Plugin by Taragana | ||||||||
Name: Alfred @, aka "original zune fan"
Email:
Web Site: http://www.zunemax.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1
Yahoo IM:
Jabber:
Bio: I am the original Zune fan with my own Zune blog and forums online since July 2006
Zune Social and Message Boards
