it's a first generation product with lots of room to grow, just like the first Xbox, the first Portable Media Center, and even, dare I say it, the first iPod - which was not a smash hit if anyone remembers their history.
Isn't this the same kind of logic you're annoyed that others are engaging in?
Look, the iPod wasn't a smash hit in the market when it was introduced. It was $400 at a time when most people were walking around with $40 discmen. It was computer tethered when most people didn't know what an MP3 was. It only worked with Firewire capable Macs. It was digital in an analog world. Of course it wasn't a success. Hell, neither were any of it's predecessors (Anyone remember the Diamond Rio line? How about all those MP3 CD players?). The fact is that the iPod wasn't a spectacular success in the beginning because nobody knew what to make of it. It was a product in a world that wasn't 100% ready for it.
Fast forward to 2006. Aside from WiFi, what about the Zune have we not seen before?
Big screen? Archos.
Low price point? Everyone.
Wifi? To some degree Archos.
Video? Every PMP and most iPods sold.
A companion music store? Every other device out there.
My point is that the Zune's only obstacle to overcome is competition. Apple effectively created a mass market for portable audio players that didn't exist beforehand. There was no reason to think it would even be mildly successful at the time it was introduced, however, it's laughable to even remotely compare the Zune to the iPod. For the Zune, the market is there. People understand what it does, and it's $150 cheaper and holds 6 times the data the original iPod did.
People are ready now.
They weren't ready then.
HUGE difference.
(And just to clarify, I'm not jumping on the Zune sucks bandwagon. I think it's neat and has lots of potential if they can get over the software hiccups; which seems to be the only downside I'm really seeing in reviews anyway. Good hardware, bad software. Still lots of potential)
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