Hey Microsoft, how about a Zune HD2 and…while you are at it, a Zune client for the Mac?

August 2, 2010 | By rush24

The Zune HD has not made much of an impact in the portable media device market despite having a better UI and sleeker hardware design (IMHO)than it’s main rival, the iPod touch. One could argue that Microsoft should just cede the market to the iPod and with WP7 already featuring the Zune software, why should they bother with building a standalone player? I believe that the Zune HD lackluster sales performance was due more to Microsoft’s bumbling strategy (In descending order of importance) than the iPods first to market advantage.

Having the device only available in the US
Lack of a SDK for developers to build 3rd party apps
Lack of Bluetooth and external speakers
Lack of accessories to extend the device

The Smartphone market is exploding and we are seeing the convergence of multimedia functions merged onto these phones that leaves a seemingly little room for standalone devices. It sounds insane to suggest that MS should enter this market however, there are few factors that point to a big opportunity being still available.

Firstly, it would be an excellent portable gaming system to go against, the iPod touch, PSP and especially Nintendo DS. The news last month reporting Nintendo DS sales of 510,000+ for the month of June! should be tempting enough and furthermore, the device would complement the Xbox 360 nicely.

Secondly, the Zune HD2 will fit well for people who already have a phone but who don’t want to pay for Smartphone data plans or contracts. Included in this group are kids who still can’t afford or need a phone but are still into gaming and social networking.

Thirdly, it would provide another avenue for MS to challenge Apple in their home turf if they built a native Zune client for Mac to go head to head with iTunes.

What it will look like:

The Zune HD2 will come in two flavors. The first one, pictured above, with the following features in addition to what is currently available

4 inch AMOLED screen
Front facing VGA camera and rear camera with at least 5MP/ Hardware camera button
32 GB, 64, or 120 GB storage
Stereo speakers
Folding screen like on the HTC touch pro 2 for the controller pad (like shown in the picture)
Mic
Wi-Fi b/g/n
Bluetooth
Home, Search and back buttons

The second flavor will retain the current Zune HD form factor but lose the controller pad and front facing camera because it will be geared towards the low end.

The new Zunes will in effect be the current WP7 minus the phone part. Not only will this mean that Microsoft makes more money by selling the hardware, it keeps them from competing with their partners and provides a test bed for them to improve Zune and WP7 even further. The Zune client for the Mac effectively eliminates the adoption barrier for users who are already invested in the Apple ecosystem and opens a gateway to WP7.

About Rush24

Rush24 loves everything Microsoft and is fascinated by the influence of technology in everyday life.

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Tagged device, wp7, zune hd, zunehd 2

Jake

It really is a waste of time developing a Zune client for the Mac. For starters, they represent a very small number of users (and judging by the market share numbers out today a shrinking number at that) and large numbers of them will be fanboys who would refuse to buy a Microsoft product anyway.

If MS have got time to waste then they'd be better off working on copy & paste.

efjay

My thoughts exactly. apple users seem to be becoming increasingly fanatical about their purchases, a Zune client for mac would be a colossal waste of resources.
okkkk

zune for mac would be such an astronomical waste of money for microsoft. btw the zune is done, windows phone carries the zune torch. music players dont sell anmore.

Biff

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

I have Zune HD now that I love, but a bigger screen, mic and camera would be great. The rest I don't care about too much.
interframe

1. Creating a Zune Client for the Mac would be a waste of time. There is a big difference between the number of Mac users vs the number of Windows users who will buy Windows Phones this holiday season.

2. If there going to make a portable Xbox, they cant call it the "Zune HD 2", that makes no sense. A product cant have two brand names. They can make a Zune HD minus the phone stuff from WP7, and that would be their iPod Touch. An inexpensive way to dive into the Windows Phone platform for people.

3. If there gonna make a portable Xbox, it has to be dedicated to gaming (meaning actual buttons) and it has to be innovative (the hardware) in order to sell at Nintendo DS-levels. They could easily make a portable Xbox with Windows Phone 7 software technology built on top of it for multimedia stuff, but then where the hell does that leave XBL on Windows Phone 7, and on Zune HD? It would create a whole ton of more product/brand confusion and inconsistency that Microsoft is already faced with today.

http://intensedebate.com/people/rush24 rush24

1. It is the same reason why they make Bing app for the iPhone and Office 2011 for the Mac. A way to enter an influential market and gain some mind-share.
2. It is not a portable Xbox. It is multimedia device that happens to be capable of gaming with Xbox live as an added bonus.
3.I don't see what is so innovative about current Ds/Dsi hardware. The 3DS, yeah with no glasses 3D but it will take a while for it to catch up. There is no difference in XBL on both these devices and WP7. The devices will feature the WP7 start screen and are essentially a WP7 device without the phone part so there should be no confusion.

http://intensedebate.com/profiles/roteague roteague

The Zune HD has an SDK – it's called XNA. It also has a free development environment – XNA Developers Studio. XNA is a pain to develop for. However, if Microsoft is going to update to a "Zune HD2" they should follow WP7 and add Silverlight.
GTRoberts

I personally cannot imagine any more "Zune HD" type devices being made by/for Microsoft. Ballmer has constantly said "Zune" will become a service… so every single WP7 phone will be a Zune. If you want a larger screen'ed Zune, then buy a 4.3" WP7 phone.
http://intensedebate.com/people/djguapo djguapo

The most important one: #5. Not aggressively marketing the Zune HD in either advertisements or retail locations.

http://intensedebate.com/people/rush24 rush24

I forgot that one. Good call

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746307628 Ricardo Dawkins

This is my future Zune HD. http://shopping.daum.net/product/productdetail.da…
Microsoft is an uber joke….
Craig S

Not understanding why this would have a controller pad, when Windows Phone 7 has none

http://intensedebate.com/people/rush24 rush24

Most of the WP7games are going to be XBox compatible so it won't be that difficult to map the control schemes to the Zune HD2. I find it easier and more intuitive to play fighting games with a controller than a touch screen.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Northerngeek Northerngeek

This is ridiculous, will never happen and seems like something a 15 year old dreamed up when he should have been working in class. It serves as nothing but to divide the market further, and if ever made into a product would be akin to the release of the Kin.

A new Zune HD, sure, that makes sense, increased compatability would allow developers to create apps for WP7 on a Zune… useful and cheap; it would also allow for people to try out the UI at less expense.

Mac software- at this point it would be a waste of time, whilst I can see some advantages to bringing in people who have cash these people can dual boot if they want it enough and Microsoft doesn't stand to gain much.

It's nice that a kid tries to do this sort of thing, but save it for forums and such it isn't news and it isn't an editorial. If this is being done in class, try working in class and then you'll have something in common with the people who run companies like MS… then you could make decisions!

Jake

Surely you could have made your point without being so rude.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Northerngeek Northerngeek

It was not meant to be rude, it is simply stating that this is typical of youth; I agreed on points such as the need for a new Zune HD but tried to keep it down to Earth, and besides, if he really is doodling in class I believe the last bit of advice to be true, a person paying attention has a better chance of getting to the position where their idea run businesses instead of websites.

Would you really call this journalism? I don't expect top rate writing but the topics should have some editorial process.

Ultimately if he isn't a kid I apologise, but my money is on the Rush being a teenager.