Microsoft Zune for $99?

phoenix007

Disciple
I don't think so. But respected blogger Mike Evangelist theorizes that the Zune could be massively subsidized by Microsoft to gain overnight market share. Since a big part of the Zune revenue picture is subscription-based content, why not "give" away devices (hoping for a lifetime of subscription dues) in a market that's still dominated by Apple?

Current speculation has the Zune at $249, the same price as the 30GB iPod. Prior to Apple's price-crunching iPod announcement, the 30GB Zune was unofficially set at $299. A sub-$100 price would rock the market for sure.
Microsoft Zune for $99? - Alpha Blog - alpha.cnet.com

I have trouble believing it but if true that's great!!!
 
nah not possbile... its just what he thinks, not whats announced by microsoft
If it comes in for 99$ i.e 5k ... ill get 2 as soon as it arrives :p
 
Great news ... will have to wait to find out if its really gonna happen...mebbe microsoft is looking to popularize the player initially , eventhough it may hurt the profit margins. Hope it plays regular stuff too, apart from the drm infected cr@p
 
Hullo?! This is MICROSOFT.... buggers aim is to mint money and muscle their way in whatever field they go to.

And i think they wont give up money to get this market share.. they'll just price is around iPod levels and push it all based on the Microsoft brand name..
 
Bullshit! Must be a flash based Zune for that much. MS subsidizes their products, they dont give them away for free(literally what a 99$ price is)
 
Okay here's the update to that story. The $99 pricing was too good to be true.This what the zune would cost:-

t's only fair and wise for Microsoft wait until the dust settles before coming to some hard and fast decisions on the release and pricing of a device being posed to take out the iPod. Now that everyone's reacted to the many posts on prospective and vaugely officious prices and theories, it would appear they've settled on $249.99 (not to be undercut by Apple after all), and will be launching the device in the US market on November 14th. Other pricing includes individual tracks for 79 Microsoft points apiece, and your standard $14.99 monthly fee for the Zune Pass service; Microsoft's also released some details on the Zune accessory line, which will run between $19.99 and a hundred bucks for:

* Zune Home A/V Pack ($100 - dock, remote, AV cables, extra battery, sync cable, adapter)

* Zune Travel Pack ($100 - Dual Connect remote, premium headphones, bag, cable, and adapter)

* Zune Car Pack ($80 - FM tuner, car charger)

* AV cable ($20)

* AC adapter ($30)

* sync cable ($20)

* car charger ($24)

* dock (with AV output, but no AV cable for $40)

* wireless remote (for control of zune dock, $30)

* Dual Connect remote (for inline control and splitting the audio out for two people, $30)

* Zune FM Tuner (with autoseek, which finds the optimal station and, at $70, the optimal way to sap your cash),

* gear bag (which, um, contains all these friggin' expensive accessories, itself $30)

* ... and premium earphones (sound isolating canalphones for $40)

It'll also, as you may have heard, come with a ton of preloaded content from such bands as CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy, not cascading style sheets), Band of Horses, The Rakes, The Thermals, etc., and videos from Serena-Maneesh, The Fruit Bats, and even some film shorts and images of classic rock posters (huh?). We'd kind of hoped the whole pandering to the disenfranchised iPod user might have resulted in more included (or at very least cheaper) accessories, but $20 for a USB cable is indeed low hanging fruit that apparently not even the artful Zuners could pass up.
 
Its new and not refurbished..You can check it out for yourself! I hope you dont mean to say that the website (buy.com) is running a big scam and selling off reburbished ones as new !
 
KingKrool said:
Hmm... I note that this is the Zune v1. Maybe they are trying to clear stock?

Yes..thats correct! Also if you observe they are clearing their stock of BROWN zune players which nobody generally buys.So i would imagine,they have a lot of Brown colored zunes which they want to clear out before launching Zune V2 after which Zune V1's demand will go down drastically!
 
@ pat & Kingkrool: buddy yeah its ta old version, but the fact of the matter is tat microsoft has said tat it will allow all zune owners (1 st gen aswel) to upgrade the firmware of their players free of charge.. so now u c.. if they sell ta v1's at such bargains the demand wont fall actually.. an the customer would be happy cause he can upgrade his player aswel
 
Yes, but the existing Zunes are a little bulky. Otherwise they would have kicked Apple's ass long ago. Having used a Zune, I can say it has great features and build quality is great too (I haven't used an iPod, but my roommate has one and I can say that it is on par in build quality). The screen on the Zune is actually better (bigger). What the Zune lacks is aesthetics - it is too thick. That is one of the things they are fixing with v2.
 
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