Microsoft has announced that they’re not going to produce any further models of the Zune, their “me too” personal media player and lackluster iPod competitor. I’m glad its gone. Not because I hate Microsoft (because I don’t), but because it’s one less unremarkable, derivative product on the market. Apple haters have a mythos that the market will choose an Apple competitor because people are hungry for choice. This is folly. It ignores the actual truth that Apple is winning the world precisely because people have chosen their products. Apple has approached the entire technology segment from a ecosystem point of view. There was nothing keeping Microsoft from doing the same thing, at the same level of quality, or better. But they didn’t. Instead the Zune tried to compete on device specs in a market segment won on user experience and ecosystem. That’s bringing a knife to a tank battle, even if you arguably have the better knife.
Microsoft is capable of brilliant things, yet they so rarely seem to live up to that potential. The Xbox 360, for example, is fantastic. I own one. The MS games division makes some great content, which I’ve really enjoyed. They were the first to offer real Netflix Instant Watch capabilities to my actual TV and I’ve had nearly three years of basically flawless service out of both the hardware and the OS. It’s literally revolutionized the way I watch television. The Xbox, when I bought it, did some key things that their competitors didn’t, and it continues to deliver quality content on reliable hardware. Sure, now I can get a similar experience on PS3 or Wii, but why would I change? Microsoft has won me as an Xbox customer and Sony/Nintendo would have to seriously wow me to sway me over to their universe.
The Zune, on the other hand, never offered anything compelling besides some better hardware specs. This is where every Apple competitor seems to be missing the point. You can’t compete with Apple on specs. Period. The actual people buying Apple products (as opposed to tech nerds just writing about them) don’t give a crap about most specs. I don’t care how many GHz are in the processor in my iPad. I simply enjoy that my iPad is fast (and the iPad 2 is even faster). I don’t care about any of the stuff it can’t do because it’s so brilliant at the things it does do. I don’t care if that Dell laptop is cheaper than my MacBook Pro because I don’t want to deal with Windows and I like the Apple industrial design ethos. To try to woo me back on specs or even price is a waste of time because as an Apple customer, what I’ve decided is most important is the experience Apple technology gives me.
But here’s the thing, Apple’s experience isn’t perfect. I want the clever chaps at Microsoft and Google to challenge Apple to do things even better than they already do. Competition is a good thing. But so far, by my estimation, neither outfit seems willing to truly match Apple’s approach, let alone surpass it. And at this point, it’d take some pretty significant surpassing to uproot the brand loyalty that Apple has earned in my wallet. Just like it’d take some serious work on Sony’s part to get me away from my Xbox. Step it up, folks. Learn the lessons from yet another failed competitor.
(11 months ago)