Microsoft on Twitter: "New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying and iPhone/Pre. :)"
I have two words for you Microsoft. Too late. You really think people are going to wait around for a Zune phone?
For those of you who don't know what a Zune is, it's Microsoft's attempt at competing with the iPod which never really happened. In fact I can't think of one person I've seen carrying around a Zune. I really don't see what the hype is about iPods or music players is anyway. Every phone built since 1999 with a headphone jack and a data cable is capable of carrying MP3s (unless you're my wife who has $2 Samsung phone being held up by tape). If the phone is labeled smartphone and has an SD slot of some sort you can upgrade your storage and load up the MP3s. I've never wanted to carry separate music player so I've always used my phone. Then again I'm not a typical music listener. I've never used the iPod on my iPhone. I use Pandora, YouTube, and tend to burn music to CD for the car. When I bought my iPhone it had nothing to do with music but had everything to do with full web access in my pocket. Remember looking at WAP pages? Painful!
Microsoft has long denied developing a ZunePhone to compete with the iPhone. But could their tweet indicate otherwise? Only time will tell, but I for one wouldn't wait around for another Microsoft half-assed product. The problem with Microsoft is they always wait for someone else to do something they should have done from the start. They then try to steal that idea and make it better and ultimately it ends up becoming an EPIC FAIL! Or in this case it's a matter of timing. People are already established with iPods, and are quickly becoming established with iPhones. It's going to take a HUGE breakthrough to swing the popular vote from the iPhone and now Pre to some new Windows Mobile ZunePhone that's sure to fail at taking a unified mobile device to the next level. And at this point that's what it's going to take...it's going to take another game changer and I don't think Microsoft is up to the task yet.
Microsoft should continue to focus on Windows Mobile 7. Try to catch up with Apple and now Palm to make Windows Mobile an attractive platform for developers. Developers are excited about iPhone OS and Palm's WebOS and want to develop for those platforms. The Windows Mobile team got complacent and Windows Mobile has suffered becoming stale, outdated and downright slow and clunky. Microsoft has an advantage in that they've never been controlling like Apple. They've always allowed developers to improve upon any aspect of their products. Apple on the other hand has always been strict with what developers can and cannot touch when developing an application. Palm and WebOS remain to be seen. Even so I think it's still might be too little too late. Maybe next year Microsoft.
I have two words for you Microsoft. Too late. You really think people are going to wait around for a Zune phone?
For those of you who don't know what a Zune is, it's Microsoft's attempt at competing with the iPod which never really happened. In fact I can't think of one person I've seen carrying around a Zune. I really don't see what the hype is about iPods or music players is anyway. Every phone built since 1999 with a headphone jack and a data cable is capable of carrying MP3s (unless you're my wife who has $2 Samsung phone being held up by tape). If the phone is labeled smartphone and has an SD slot of some sort you can upgrade your storage and load up the MP3s. I've never wanted to carry separate music player so I've always used my phone. Then again I'm not a typical music listener. I've never used the iPod on my iPhone. I use Pandora, YouTube, and tend to burn music to CD for the car. When I bought my iPhone it had nothing to do with music but had everything to do with full web access in my pocket. Remember looking at WAP pages? Painful!
Microsoft has long denied developing a ZunePhone to compete with the iPhone. But could their tweet indicate otherwise? Only time will tell, but I for one wouldn't wait around for another Microsoft half-assed product. The problem with Microsoft is they always wait for someone else to do something they should have done from the start. They then try to steal that idea and make it better and ultimately it ends up becoming an EPIC FAIL! Or in this case it's a matter of timing. People are already established with iPods, and are quickly becoming established with iPhones. It's going to take a HUGE breakthrough to swing the popular vote from the iPhone and now Pre to some new Windows Mobile ZunePhone that's sure to fail at taking a unified mobile device to the next level. And at this point that's what it's going to take...it's going to take another game changer and I don't think Microsoft is up to the task yet.
Microsoft should continue to focus on Windows Mobile 7. Try to catch up with Apple and now Palm to make Windows Mobile an attractive platform for developers. Developers are excited about iPhone OS and Palm's WebOS and want to develop for those platforms. The Windows Mobile team got complacent and Windows Mobile has suffered becoming stale, outdated and downright slow and clunky. Microsoft has an advantage in that they've never been controlling like Apple. They've always allowed developers to improve upon any aspect of their products. Apple on the other hand has always been strict with what developers can and cannot touch when developing an application. Palm and WebOS remain to be seen. Even so I think it's still might be too little too late. Maybe next year Microsoft.
[UPDATE - 4/13/09]
Microsoft has denied any connection to the Twitter account used to post the teaser "Hold off from buying and iPhone/Pre". Microsoft also continues to deny working on a ZunePhone. So what led bloggers to believe it was coming from a legit Twitter account?
Recent ads targeting iTunes, and that fact that the account seemed to come from an account -- known by as "Office the Movie" -- that appeared to be attached to the "Office 2010 the Movie" Microsoft marketing team. There had also been previous speculation that Microsoft was working on a ZunePhone. Who needs marketing when you have bloggers spreading the word, albeit erroneous.
So Zune lovers (all three of you) no ZunePhone for you.
