Yesterday, Apple launched the iPhone 4S at its Cupertino campus. The keynote was in the ‘Town Hall’, the same place where the original iPod debuted in 2001. iPods and Apple have come a long way since then, the industry as well. But for Apple, iPod launch in 2001 is a moment that doesn’t pass with time.
Yesterday Tim Cook announced the performance for iPods and Apple has sold a staggering 300 million+ iPods till date. The figures gets better with the 16 billion songs downloaded on iTunes and we wonder if Microsoft has made the wrong decision by discontinuing its Zune players. The Zune HD that came out in 2009 was popular and though it didn’t set any sales records to remember, it sure did mark Microsofts entry into the MP3 players market in a good way. Zune also had Apps.
As Microsoft discontinues the Zune lineup, they remind us of music and video capabilities of Windows Phone. Now, to be honest, we like the UI treatment and freshness of Windows Phone line-up. Microsoft would probably get into the top three mobile OSes with it and Nokia might just get a saviour as well. But is it worth discontinuing a dedicated PMP? Zune was not just a player, it was also a gaming device, again you may argue that Windows Phone can also do gaming, but there must be some reason why iPod touch is the top gaming handheld out there?
Apple is maintaining a separate iPods lineup and in yesterdays keynote they gave their reasons for the same. As many as 45 million iPods were sold in the last one year (July 10 – June 11) and close to 50% of those were bought by people buying an iPod for the first time. That is a very important figure Apple has pulled out. This means, new audience is picking up iPod and there is a demand for a gaming / PMP.
There is another side to this argument as well. Microsoft has made their choice and one clear reason may be that they want to concentrate on the Windows Phone division. For a player that is trying to go against established names like Android and iOS in the market, focus is good for Microsoft. Apple might have sold 45 million iPods in one year, but they sold 20 million+ iPhones in just one quarter. clearly the growth and market size of smartphones is much larger. Microsoft is leaving the small market, ditching making the hardware themselves and going after the mass market product ‘smartphones’. And we have a feeling that this might just pay off, not because of discontinuing Zune, but because Windows Phone 7 is a refreshing OS.