Pocket lint - Put this one down as a mystery still yet to be unravelled.
It's being reported that Microsoft's UK head of marketing for mobile service in the UK, Oded Ran, tweeted:
"Daily #WP7 ANNOUNCEMENT: I'm glad to confirm that Mac users would be able to Zune on their Macs to sync with #WP7. More details soon."
The tweet, which was date stamped as 9.35pm on 12 October, has now disappeared though - meaning one of two things. Either Ran was wrong, or he was a little early with his public announcement.
The Verge: Microsoft is cutting the price of its Surface RT tablet by 30 percent worldwide because it's simply not selling. It’s also taking a $900 million hit related to the stock it has left over. For a company that has struggled, with the exception of Xbox, to generate consumer interest in hardware products like Zune and Kin, was Surface RT always doomed? Is Microsoft's iPad competitor quickly becoming another Zune?
I swear to God, I don't think Microsoft knows what consumers think. They know their enterprise market but I feel like they have no clue as to what the consumers want. They think Windows and Office are actually “loved” and “wanted” and that’s why they have 93% market share.
I need this in my life, I cant wait, it was a sad day when zune died, it was clearly ahead of its time.
despite what people thought, the zune faithful was pretty happy. i just hope for drag and dop music management vs some shit program.
It would be nice if they would release a product and support it like they did with Xbox.
Zune was awesome, then MS got bored and release Windows phone. They went "sorry, but this time it will be different! We will support it!"
Thats a good promise, but how long did they promise support for Zune and it never came? So I sold my Zune and Zune HD, and jumped to Android.
Good thing I did. MS already jumped to Windows 8 (RT), screwing early adopters, and so far can't even get basic apps offered on it....
Just think about it this way, what does Windows RT (phones and tablets) offer that the competitors don't? Nothing. What do they lack that competitors have? A lot.
FleshEatingZipper writes: On the morning of May 11th, 2012, Robbie Bach stood before the Northwest Entrepreneur Network while a PowerPoint projection burned bright behind him. The 50-year old former Microsoft executive was graying at the corners while a “Hello, my name is…” sticker began to peel off his shirt. “If I had hindsight, 20-20, and could do Zune over again,” he started, “we would skip portable media players completely.”
Engadget - It may not enjoy quite the same level of buzz that the likes of Spotify, Rdio and MOG have been basking in lately, but Microsoft's Zune service is still kicking, and the company's now working to make it a bit more appealing and more widely available. For folks in the US, the big change today is a new $10 per month Zune Music Pass, which is identical to the existing $15 service with the notable exception that you no longer get to keep ten free MP3s each month (that $15 option remains available to existing subscribers, though).