I was down at the local Virgin Megastore earlier today - along with several other hassled British parents - trying to buy a Wii for my child for Christmas. There were Xboxs and Playstations aplenty, and they were discounted, but nobody was buying them.
By contrast, the 9 Wiis that came in were sold out before I got to the head of the queue. More in next week, apparently.
Traditional games consoles are so last year.
How come this blog only mentions Microsoft when there is something negative to say?
Wii is a surprise hit. Most would have guessed that PS3 would be the leader since PS2 sold over 100 million units, but it is in third place behind Xbox 360. Most would have guessed that Wii would be in third place.
Speaking of surprise hit. Zune 30 GB has come back to life and is selling better than when initially released. On Amazon's MP3 bestsellers list Zune 30 brown is #1, Zune 30 black is #8, Zune 80 is #9, and Zune 30 pink is #18. Four Zunes in the top 20.
beanie, go to Paul Thurrott's supersite for Windows blog. For a Windows site, the is a lot of Apple post's, and it's all bad. He only exploit's any minor or rare problem and blows it way out of proportion. Since he stop his internet nexus and now posts at the supersite blog, he has only gotten worse and it is nearly all FUD. The pro-windows posters there also provide FUD, and much is very inaccurate as I read everyday, but I try to stay neutral, unless i see something that is not true, then I politely comment the correct info and source. There is no bad post to MS at his site, even when they do the same thing as Apple. The best example is his criticism for Apple's prompt Leopard update, but absolutely none for the firmware update for the new Zune 2 days after it's retail release. So this is a pro Apple site but there are plenty of anti-Apple sites, and a blog can publish content of it's choice. But I appreciate the info you personally post due to good explanations. You still da man!
"Speaking of surprise hit. Zune 30 GB has come back to life and is selling better than when initially release"
I wouldn't expect that to last, would you? The unit seems only a wee bit improved from Zune 1. Is there somethimg I'm missing? I know it does podcasts now, which was a HUGE omission in Zune 1, but....
Tom, the pre-order price was fantastic. It will never continue, well except the the obsessed anti-Apple fans. Like Apple fanatics, they go way overboard in behavior. But that it is different story. I go to several Windows and Mac websites as I really do use both OS's, but people on both sides get obsessed and crazy. I stay neutral and do not cross the line when I an in either court. It ain't worth it.
I suspect H3 is a genuinely good game-- I respect the Bungie guys and I'm glad they are independant now-- but I have doubts about the game console market and demographic. The demographic for hardcore slash-and-burn type game may well be smaller than that for "fun" games (wii). I think consoles are going UP in price and low cost computers DOWN. For the price of a PS3 or XBox you could almost buy a Mac Mini. To be sure, you'd get a low end graphics card, but Moore's law suggests the price curves will cross within a few years.
Things Apple is doing wrong-- more support for games, including iPod games might be helpful. Informal direct marketing to Enterprise-- do they have relationships with Enterprise IT?-- might be in order. They will need to wake up the sleepy Eneterprise market, eventually . With Leopard at 64 bit-- and Windows having weak 64 bit support-- now might be a good time.
All good points Tom.
I just viewed the Zunes at Target. The flash based look almost exactly like iPod, but are at the same price. MS really needs a better product at a lower price, IMO. There are lots of good players at lower price points, but MS decided to target the iPod, the defacto player. I think that's dumb.
"There are lots of good players at lower price points, but MS decided to target the iPod, the defacto player"
And there's no Zune phone.
If there were, like the Zune, it STILL wouldn't have iTunes-- people don't seem to "get" how important good software is.
Question for Carl: Windows Mobile isn't really Windows. it's different. One wonders how hard it might be integrate the Zune to WM? I'm sure it CAN be done-- and hasn't been, yet.
Yes, Zune 30 brown is #1 but look at that price - $133, 33% off. Even the Zune 30 black is 30% off. So is MS making any money on those two models? Or is the same as the Xbox strategy of losing money on the device; except in this case there's not much money to be made off selling songs.
Next, pretty much all the iPods (nano, touch, classic) are in between the two Zunes, and way ahead of the new Zune 80.
Yes, Zune has clobbered the rest of the non-iPods but it still takes a 33% discount to move past iPods. Even SanDisk did that last Christmas with 50% discounts.
Commenting by HaloScan
