Microsoft Zune fails to make an impact

MICROSOFT'S iPod clone, Zune is getting laughed out of the US as a much vaunted marketing and advertising campaign has not happened.

According to thestreet.com, the Zune is the butt of jokes on late-night TV and online and is not getting much help from retailers either.

Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster says that people have never heard of the Zune or if they had they thought it was clunky or bad.

A survey of salespeople at 40 big consumer electronics stores showed that they were not trying to sell the gadget, with only eight per cent even recommending it.

Apple sites claim that it is because the Zune is bad and the iPod is good, but there is something strange about the way that Vole is peddling the player.

It was launched with nary a fanfare, advertising or marketing. Munster said it was odd that, in the lead-up to Christmas, Microsoft was not even trying to bombard the market with propaganda to flog the thing.

But neither the analysts nor the Mac-heads seem to be wondering what Microsoft is doing. It has never released a product without extensive marketing before and an absence of advertising dollars now would either suggest either a cunning long-term plan or a seizure of incompetence. µ