Steve Ballmer at WPC: the Zune Confusion

By Kip Kniskern on July 12, 2011 9:34 AM

34 comments

At yesterday’s WPC (Worldwide Partners Conference) in Los Angeles, Steve Ballmer took the stage to talk about the state of Microsoft and Windows, touching on Skype (saying it will enhance enterprise level Lync communications, not undermine it), Bing (a new developer’s platform is coming), and a recap of Windows 8 announcements so far (demoed by Corp. Vice President Tami Reller). But what Steve Ballmer said, and didn’t say, about Zune seems to have a number of blogs jumping to conclusions today, even further muddying the waters about what’s happening with the Zune brand.

It starts (on the video at about 01:13:50) with Ballmer and an assistant demoing voice control for the Xbox. The assistant, Eleana, says “Xbox…music”, and Ballmer says “Instant access, to 11 million songs”. No mention of Zune there, although the Zune MVPs pointed out later on Twitter that Zune Marketplace does now indeed contain about… 11 million songs:

And later, Ballmer says:

Bing on Xbox will search through Zune, Netflix, Hulu, Xbox Live, and even more content providers, as they come to the Xbox system.

So even though Ballmer specifically mentioned Zune, and referred to it with the “11 million” remark, Business Insider among others took it as the end of Zune as a brand, replaced by Eleana’s utterance of “Xbox…Music”:

Ballmer and other Microsoft execs also shared some other interesting tidbits during the speech:

Xbox Music, presumably based on the Zune Marketplace, is coming this fall. Ballmer said it would contain more than 11 million songs, and Kinect users will be able to search for songs using Kinect’s voice recognition.

Other blogs picked up on it, including 1Up.com, who have updated their post based on an explanation of what really happened at WPC yesterday by Zune MVP Marques Lyons.

Still, with all the rumors swirling around the future of Zune and the Zune brand, and the deafening silence coming from Microsoft on the subject, Microsoft has made their own bed with all this Zune confusion.

It certainly doesn’t make sense to release a new Zune device to compete with Windows Phones, with sales that have gone from “very small… to very small”, as Ballmer quipped yesterday. We think there could be a healthy debate on whether to hang your hat on a “failed” Zune brand for music, or continue on with what brand recognition it does have, and of course this doesn’t factor in whatever may happen with Nokia’s Ovi music service once they come on board later this year, or if that will remain Nokia only.

Isn’t it time to either fully get behind the Zune brand, or retire it?

Posted in Featured, News | Tags: Steve Ballmer, WPC 11, Xbox, Zune

Comments

http://doctorwhofan98.wordpress.com/ doctorwhofan98

I think they should leave the Zune brand… They should create an iPod Touch-like Windows Phone, with all the features but not the phone part.

Avatar Roku

I agree the Zune brand is great. The name, logo, color scheme, interface were all very well crafted. The Zune service is great too, I don’t know any music service in the world that offers a better value. The movie service is also extremely high quality offering 1080p instant streaming videos. Walmart’s Vudu is the only other service that is even comparable to Zune Video.

The problem with Zune has always been the marketing or lack thereof. MS treats it like a pet project that they’re never fully committed to. There was no advertising for Zune Pass, no big exclusives, or discount promotions like Amazon/iTunes frequently do.

The other big problem is the fact that Zune is not the default pre-installed media player for Windows. Why? Apple makes iTunes the default pre-installed media player on Mac.

Jeremy S

Unfortunately although there is a small Zune following out there, most people either do not know about or care about the brand. I blame Microsoft for this.

P.S. How do you even find 1080p movies in the Zune Marketplace? Microsoft has done a bad job of making that content discoverable.

GetEdumated

You mean on the Xbox? ‘Cause that’s the default resolution on any movie you pull up. Not all of them are available in 1080p but the vast majority I’ve seen are.

Anonymous

It would be a huge mistake to bind their music service to either Xbox or Windows Live. They should have learned that “Windows Live Search” didn’t made sense when they want every customer to use their search engine. Zune could live very well beside Bing and Skype as independent brands and services, used across all Microsoft platforms and even beyond. So Zune could be a successor to Windows Media Center, Windows Media Player, Xbox music and maybe even Mediaroom, with a unified experience from phone to TV and a cloud based streaming/storage that can be used from every platform.

I think the Zune brand is very positive for Microsoft and they should invest and bring it outside of the U.S. Sure, the time for MP3 players is more or less over but why not release a Zune branded phone like Google does with the Nexus series?

guest

The most likely candidate at this point is Xbox, which I agree would be a mistake. Try as Microsoft might, people are going to associate the Xbox with videogames. The console itself is, in most peoples’ minds, a videogame console that happens to also offer other, more general entertainment.
cuz84d

oh really, I think what Steve said was they will just search though Zune library with Xbox Music.. so then you can use the Xbox to find it or Zune but its the same. People don’t know Zune, but if its a prominent app, people might use it that, but if they see Xbox Music then MS will deliver that content the same.

Anonymous

I have always wondered why Microsoft created Zune instead of turning Windows Media Player into a platform. How come Microsoft did not build around Windows Media Player and make it a site like (iTunes). Windows Media Player should have been made to include cloud service for music, updates for Windows Phone 7, Applications for Windows Phone 7, Patrnerships with Netflix or Blockbuster for online movie rentals. They could have also connected Bing in with Windows Media Player for the serach aspect. I tried Zune player and really didn’t care for it to much. The sound quality is horrible compared to iTunes. If anything Windows Media Player sounds way better than Zune.

Jeremy S

Windows Media Player used to be a platform with multiple providers of music and video downloads available within the player itself (in a built in browser similar to how iTunes does it). Who remembers MSN music downloads which was shut down and replaced by URGE (the partnership with MTV/VH1). Eventually most of those were retired and Windows Media Player was left to wither as Microsoft turned away from partnerships and put most of it’s eggs in the Zune basket. At this point I see a certain benefit to having “Music” and “Video” in Windows 8, Xbox, and Windows Phone without any kind of “Windows Media” or “Zune” branding.
Avatar Roku

Windows Media Player is horrendous. The software is awful and the music stores were all terrible compared to Zune. The question is why hasn’t Microsoft killed Media Player and installed the far superior Zune software by default on every single OS installation? Apple does this with iTunes on Mac, why can’t Microsoft?

If Windows 8 doesn’t kill Media Player and replace it with touch enabled Zune software Microsoft is insane. WMP existence is completely redundant and outdated.

Mike Lowrey

Sorry but WMP isn’t redudant since Zunes capabilities are limited.

WMP (12) ist based on MediaFoundation while Zune is based on who knows what a crap.
Zune is ultimatly bound to Zune/Windows Phone devices whil WMP is the more interoperable solution.

I agree with you that the Zune Software looks better, is more intuitive and overall nicer than WMP.
But the technical details of Zune are depressing. Why is it not possible to extend it’s playing capabilities like with WMP?
Jeremy S

Windows Media Player at least has a theme that matches the rest of Windows (for better or for worse). Zune was created by a completely different team and that is why it doesn’t look like a traditional Windows app. Windows Media Player has a built in media server and Play To functionality that is not quite duplicated on the Zune side yet. Neither one has all the features of the other. Windows Media Player is withering while Zune is also in some kind of limbo. I hope Microsoft makes a clear choice on how they are going to support media in the future. I would rather have one fully featured, fully supported choice than two limited semi-supported choices.

James

Umm.. the Zune software fits the whole theme of Microsoft’s direction… not sure what you’re talking about. It’s all about Metro UI right now and they are only enhancing it more.

Jeremy S

I’m talking about the computer I’m sitting behind right now. Not what Windows or Zune will look like a year from now. I made one comment about Zune player not looking like the rest of Windows Vista/7. However, the rest of comments were about how you can not CURRENTLY get all the of the FEATURES in one media player regardless of which UI you like.

http://macrosofter.wordpress.com/ quikboy

Maybe you haven’t noticed for the past decade, but Microsoft has had to deal with anit-trust laws? EU, South Korea and other nations demand a version of Windows without Windows Media Player and other goodies? Maybe putting Zune music services by default on ALL of their OS installations might give them an unfair advantage in the music store market?

This is reality. The most Microsoft can do, without raising red flags to the DoJ would be to give the Zune media player all the best functionalities of WMP, and heavily promote the Zune Media Player, and reduce WMP as a simple media playback software.

cuz84d

Zune PC software is much better than any other Media player..
http://macrosofter.wordpress.com/ quikboy

It always seems people forget that Microsoft has had anti-trust issues, and only recently has the DoJ taken away oversight on that.

In EU countries and South Korea, Microsoft has to sell a version of Windows without Windows Media Player and other stuff because of anti-trust rules there as well. Tying Zune to WMP would thus be a bad idea.

Also, Microsoft only issues updates in Windows mostly for security purposes. Although they might add a few goodies in service packs, there’d never be as much updates for WMP as they can with the Zune.

I’m also not getting how the ‘sound quality’ has any effect of what software you’re using. It’s a result of your speakers. Plus there have been several music stores in WMP for years, and there still are. Why would Bing be in a media player?

As usual, there are people that want a company to do everything they want, without considering how feasible it is for the company to be able to do it.

Avatar Roku

Why are some people so stupid. Zune is much more than just music, it is also TV and movies. The reason why the Xbox section is called “music” is because Zune is not available in most countries where Xbox 360 is sold.

There are other services for Xbox 360 music section like Last.FM.

Jeremy S

Maybe people’s so-called “stupidity” isn’t as much to blame as Microsoft’s lack of clear direction. Everyone is hoping that the NEW Microsoft emerges with a consistant experience. Microsoft has been doing media 20 different ways, often competing with itself. Hopefully this time they will consolidate all their efforts into a clear product and actually stand behind it. Media on today’s Xbox is a mess of new and old pieces mixed together in a sloppy UI.

James

Zune must stay. It is such a unique and beautifully designed brand (logo, marketing materials, etc.). I don’t care if they release any new Zune devices, but the brand and service should stay and they should market it more like they do their other products AND they must expand internationally because there is a huge fanbase outside the US… and when i say huge i mean HUGE because we all try to access the marketplace but we’re blocked because we’re not in the US! :(

Jeremy S

For too long Zune was siloed off from the rest of Microsoft’s media endevors and left to fend for itself. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will salvage the brand or kill it.

cuz84d

God I hope they keep the look and feel for Zune as a real replacement for their media apps.

Jeremy S

Ya that “metro” look and feel is being used on everything from Windows to Xbox to Windows Phone to Office to whatever. I think the look and feel thing will come together nicely. The questions are about semantics… What are they going to call their next generation media apps.. Zune or something else? Regardless they already have the look and feel thing pretty much locked down.

Jeremy S

Kip has it right. The reason any waters are muddy is because Microsoft is doing a little dance where they will not just come out and say what Zune will be in next version of Windows/Xbox/Windows Phone/whatever. Microsoft’s wishy washy support for Zune and their lack of focus has been Zune’s downfall for years now.
http://jvd897.blogspot.com jvd897

“It certainly doesn’t make sense to release a new Zune device to compete
with Windows Phones, with sales that have gone from “very small… to very
small”, as Ballmer quipped yesterday.”

True enough, but let’s remember that any potential Zune device nowadays would most likely be based on WP7, with all the benefits of the platform. Another Zune device wouldn’t capture the public’s imagination, but I think the idea of a “Portable Xbox” might.

cuz84d

Yeah, they could call a new Zune hardware the Xbox Portable for sure and drop all the rest of the WindowsPhone stuff, but I think they much rather sell the Phone devices only. Any Xbox Portable should be on par with inputs like PSP, or PSVita.

http://jvd897.blogspot.com jvd897

True, so I would actually want them to keep the rest of the Windows Phone software — for example, the PSP plays music and videos, so it wouldn’t make sense to exclude the Music + Video hub from a Portable Xbox.

JH

I just
watched the video and I have to chuckle a little bit …if you watch what
Eleana is doing, she is using voice commands to control the Xbox. So the first
command is to signal the device “Xbox” and then the second command is
to signal the menu item “music.” I think this may be a case of people
reading too much into the demo.

I’m
betting the music function is still Zune style and accessing the music from a
PC. What would be compelling is if Microsoft went ahead and moved Zune to the
cloud like Amazon is doing. Imagine Zune Pass with no download and accessible
through any device (enabling a DRM capable app on iOS or Android). That gets
interesting and gets the service out of the niche of only WP7.

The real
question is given Ballmer’s comments on focusing more on “big” ideas
and products and less on niche businesses, do they have the stomach to spend
more on Zune or concede to Apple (well, if you call giving up 1% of a market a
concession).

cuz84d

It would be nice to figure out how Zune will actually fit in with Windows 8 media
players, cause having 3 apps just doesn’t make sense anymore, and Zune
is clearly awesome looking, Media center is most powerfully for Internet TV and but too
much of the old touch gestures, and Windows Media player albeit minimal
is just crufty but is terrible as a
great media player where Zune really shines. Maybe all 3 will become
Xbox Live on the PC and Zune will be a stand alone app. Or Since WMC is like
Xbox Live.TV – Internet Tv. Maybe all of it morph together into a single program/hub/app.

techblogger

Microsoft needs to simplify. perhaps they can not that the justice department is off their back. media center, player, zune, should all be rolled into one app. anything else is absurd and confusing for the average user. microsoft needs to be able to develop for people that just want stuff to work one way with simplicity. 4 ways to do things and complicated techie extras aren’t what people want. we can still have the extras if things are done in a unified product line. enough is enough.

http://jvd897.blogspot.com jvd897

Hear, hear! I think they’re on the right track with Windows 8, though.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1160897705 William F.X. O’Neill

so here is what is happening. xbox will allow you to speak to it using your kinect to tell it what music you want to play. so if you have a zune pass and you say xbox, lady gaga, it wll pull up lady gaga. i don’t know if you can specify the individual song, but it will be nice if you can.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1160897705 William F.X. O’Neill

zune kicks butt!
Crazycraig08

This is really dumb. He says Xbox… music to get to Zune music. Zune is a movie service too you know?

MSFT	29.06	-0.03%
GOOG	591.53	-2.01%
AAPL	562.29	-0.54%
FB	31.91	-3.39%
NOK	2.82	+2.92%
YHOO	15.36	+0.07%

INDU	0.00	N/A
NASDAQ	2837.53	-0.07%