The Problem Is, The Zune Is Brown
November 14, 2006
Microsoft has just launched the Zune, which will be one of the most popular digital music players ever made, and could have been considered a wild success as a result. Instead, the device has been inevitably and irrevocably compared to Apple's iPod, and thus anything less than becoming a cultural icon will be considered failure. There are a couple of reasons why, and a number of lessons to be learned.
Back in January, I described a list of Dos and Don't for Beating the iPod and iTunes. You can refer back to it if you want the whole list, but here's some key points:
- Do: Be Rock and Roll.
- Don't: Try to teach kids about DRM.
- Do: Make something that breaks in, instead of breaking down.
- Don't: Forget about the rest of the world.
- Do: Let people make their own music.
- Don't: Try to fit in.
- Do: Make friends with Radio and TV.
- Don't: Forget about the geeks.
- Do: Invest in the experience.
Microsoft has done a good job of achieving many of these goals, while still making an overall experience that's strangely unsatifying. To me, this is epitomized by one fact: There's a brown Zune.
In person, the device has a rich, warm color. The green tinge is innovative; I've never seen a consumer electronics device that tries for such a complicated, organic palette, and it's pulled off wonderfully. But instead of calling the color chocolate, or something else compelling and attractive, they named it brown, a color that has few positive associations except (possibly) UPS. Chocolate is desirable, and fuels passions. It's even a little bit sinful. Hell, you could play on the brown and green theme and call the color "tree".
But no, the color name is prosaic. And worse, it's a color combination that looks terrible on the web. There should be some kind of Photoshop Gizmodo filter where you can take a photo of a device and see how it'll look in a spy photo on a gadget blog -- that's where first impressions by early adopters and the press are going to be formed.
The failure of Brown represents a more profound problem with the Zune: A lack of vision. There's unquestionably a lot of talent and ambition evidenced in launching a product of this scope and breadth with a small team on a short timeframe. And the Zune team should be commended for pulling it off with such high quality. But the overriding feeling of the Zune is an almost pathological me-too-ism, as if the team weren't watching consumers or potential customers, but was too busy saying Hello From Seattle to those who were Made In Cupertino. Instead of aiming at the competition, the team should have been aiming for the lead.
There are lots of great things about the Zune, and I hope it does well. But my skepticism and frustration over the fact that they settled for being compared unfavorably to the iPod is best summarized by this commercial I've mocked up. It shows what I think Christmas morning will look like if you leave a Zune under the tree for the kids.
1:30 AM
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a color that has few positive associations except (possibly) UPS
Hey! What's my alma mater, chopped liver*? I predict Zune sales in Providence will be high.
That said, I can't get enough of that Santorum* family photo. Thanks for including it.
* Also sort of brownish, since we're on the subject.
Best-executed footnotes I've seen all year. I'm telling Ben "Footnote" Trott that he's got a lot to learn.
Chocolate is desirable, and fuels passions. It's even a little bit sinful.
So does your new blog tagline indicate that you're neither desirable, sinful or a suitable fuel for passion? ;-)
Zune is simply a rebranded player that was already made by some other company, under Microsoft's direction. As usual, the software is genuine MS overly complex, nanny-esque junk.
WiFi song sharing is overhyped junk, people have been swapping earbuds and iPods for years without having expiring files and waiting for another iPod user to come in range in order to 'share' with.
Zune will be an also-ran just like late-to-the-game Dell and every other mediocre DAP to come before.
Hey, brown actually is kind of a rock'n'roll color now. Ever notice all the brown T-shirts the hipsters are wearing all over SF these days? Yep, brown. Not sure how that translates to consumer electronics world though. Now, if you slapped put a retro looking orange "76" logo on that brown case, it would be super cool!
This is the best review of this product I have yet read. You nailed it.
To be honest, I'm a Mac user since 2003... and went bacck to Apple after buying the first of now 4 iPods.
Do I think Zune will fail? No. How can it? XBox hasn't turned a single penny in profit yet. Windows is on 92% of the desktops. The only objective of Zune is market entry.
Still.... unless Zune 2.0 is a complete break from the past, well, you nailed the problem with Zune 1.0. It's exactly what Microsoft would design if they had bought out Apple and made their 1.0 version of an iPod. In every aspect.
Oh, and the real reason I'm commenting? Even though I acctually voted for him, that picture of the Santorum family is PERFECT. You could not have captured a more perfect moment.
The dad still thinks he bought the perfect gift. The wife is in denial, defending her husband. The older daughter? She knows exactly how uncool the gift is. There's and older son - but in this pic he's blocked out. The younger son? He makes the picture! He's in COMPLETE shock because up until this very moment he thought his dad was cool. But now? He knows....
And notice - you don't even need to mention the younger daughter. Now THAT is perfection! Great post.
I predict that Zune will be the undisputed market leader for the 2002 Christmas season!
Except for the fake scroll wheel. And having to dump all your PlaysForSure (and ITMS) tracks.
Eww. I've never before thought of anything as "santorum colored" before.
Well, there are differents kinds of brown. Microsft just doesn't know how to be desirable.
In the case of the Zune, I would called its color 'shit brown' (something you are not my friend). Maybe it is that color brown for a good reason.
It's brown.
You're brown.
But you're waaaaayyyyyyy cuter.
Boop ;)
Even the translucent-green-skin-over-plastic trick is a ripoff of Apple. Apple spent a great deal of time and energy developing a way to create a thin layer of transparent material over the black or white plastic of the iPod, to give it depth. Microsoft took this one baby-step further by giving that transparent skin a tinge. Well, that's nice, but it's not original.
I have no problem with MS merely improving upon existing products, but I've seen a number of people credit MS with some kind of innovative manufacturing technique, and it's just not true.
reallly? I'm sure it comes in different colors mate. And well Zune has hit a massive low compared to IPOD .. the campaign turned out to be a flop.
Nabeel
http://nabeelzeeshan.blogspot.com
Zune's "Hello From Seattle" design is maybe even more dramatically a "Hello from Redmond (... it's over here - we're kind-of in a suburb or a suburb of Seattle)" design.
Actually, maybe the Zune could've associated itself with the Seattle brand, being colored "coffee" instead of brown. . .
I have a little example more about brown and worldwide marketing.
Lego "Bionicle" toys were normally produced in six different identities for each category, for examples the "toa" (hero) are black, green, white, red, blue and brown. The last 2006 set (Toa inika) and the announced 2007 set, the Barraki, do no more include a brown exemplar. It has been substituted by a yellow one, because «The brown sets did not sell well, so the color was changed to yellow to attract sales» (source: the popular bionicle fan site 'bzpower.com').
So, microsoft selling people don't know what LEGO sellers learned all too well, i.e. brown stinks. By the way, the brown "bionicles" were our favorites... (source: http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=230958)
Good gravy, I’ ve sold my soul to the devil. I guess my opinions and experiences have been corrupted to the point that I can't honestly be trusted to say that the Microsoft Zune is a piece of trash and MSN's client support sucks smelly arse crack. Nope, I'd never say that because my credibility has been compromised.