Zune issues a “denial”

Ahh, we love PR-speak.  After a number of sites picked up on Paul Thurrott’s posting that he’s hearing that “the Zune brand is on the way out”, Microsoft responded, first through Twitter:

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/yegr/status/37650843863875584″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/yegr/status/37652509111619584″]

…and then through a post on the Zune Facebook page:

Zune Nation, let us give it to you straight: We’re not ‘killing’ any of the Zune services/features in any way. Microsoft remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune on platforms such as Xbox LIVE, Windows-based PCs, Zune devices and Windows Phone 7, as well as integration with Bing and MSN.
Thanks for being a part of this community, we appreciate each an every one of you! m/ m/

In looking back through what Thurrott initially said, and what we reported, neither of us said that Zune services and/or features were being killed.  Again, here’s what Thurrott said:

My sources tell me that the Zune brand is on the way out and that all Zune products and services will be moved into other businesses, including Windows Live. Zune will essentially cease to exist under this plan.

As our friend and Zune MVP Travis Pope pointed out on his ZuneSpring blog today, there’s no doubt that there is some re-organization already going on within the Zune team:

ZuneInsider podcast hosts Matt Akers and Jessica Zahn are the most public faces of Zune, so it’s disturbing when the team has been “reorged” so much Jessica has stopped telling us what her job is.

Indeed, Jessica Zahn just tweeted a few minutes ago (responding to a tweet asking for a denial: “please tell me they arent killing off the Zune brand”):

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/jetherealz/status/37697758601293825″]

So the bottom line, and what is very good news indeed, is that the Zune services and features are not going away.  What they’ll be called, or where they’ll fit into Microsoft org, well that’s another story, one not told as yet by any of these tweets or “denials”.