MajorNelson.com had a bit of news about the new Zune site. For those who don’t know, the Zune is Microsoft’s attempt at cutting a piece of the MP3 market’s pie. Apple dominates said market (and for good reason), so Microsoft’s new player has a hell of an uphill battle.
So anyway, I go to the site and see a picture which encourages me to click on it to see more pictures of the Zune. I’m thinking it’ll be something like Apple’s closeup shots of their products they have on their respective pages. Nope. It’s all pictures of slackers lounging around at the local Starbucks, or on a street corner somewhere, or some other totally marketing-inspired locales. They all look like some sort of subspecies of human, with the casually tousled hair and the designer clothing, people who have it all and somehow don’t have to go to work to get it.
Somewhere in those photos might be a Zune. It’s usually stuffed in their jeans pockets, or in their purse. If you’re lucky, they’re actually somehow centrally placed in the frame. You might even be able to make out the fact it’s a Zune, too. Some product shots. Looks more like a site advertising underachievement than something legitimately trying to sell a product.
Here’s a tip to Microsoft: Apple dominates the mobile music market by creating and marketing their quality products, not an overall lifestyle image.
Winterblink 