Editorials: What The Zune Team Can Learn From E3

After spending the majority of my weekend excited about Microsoft’s XBOX Briefing and being wowed on Monday by the things they managed to announce and pull off I can’t help but wonder if there aren’t some lessons to be learned by the Zune Team.

 

Lesson #1 If you want to be treated like a rockstar, act like one.

When Microsoft made it’s gaming debut, gamers scoffed, Sony pretended like they didn’t exist, and Nintendo –well it’s Nintendo, the kept on releasing new iterations of Pokemon. Now where are they? Sony is getting slapped around like it’s a Blankman television reunion, Nintendo is still releasing new iterations of Pokemon, and hardcore gamers are dying to get their hands on your latest titles.  You can’t have a faux cool attitude when it comes to wrestling a market away from a competitor and attracting new customers. Throw a party and make big announcements. Stop this simple press release nonsense. During Zune 2 you guys held a midnight press event on the campus with J Allard and Bill Gates. You were on the right track there. The way the XBOX runs around you would never think it’s #2, because they behave like they’re #1.

 

Lesson #2 Stop Resting on Your Laurels.

Yes “Buy From FM” was great and all but now it’s time to play a game of ‘what have you done for me lately?’ Yes you guys have turned Zune Pass into something that should be at the forefront of every music listeners mind. Yes your Zune players are the best music players in the game. It’s now time to move on. The XBOX Team clearly doesn’t just say let’s focus on doing this really well. They weren’t content with just selling video games. With services like Netflix, and now ESPN they are poised to change the home entertainment game. Period. The Zune needs to be a moving target. My suggestion? Change the way people consume video and podcasts next.

 

Lesson #3 Keep Secrets, Secret.

This one is really short and pretty self explanatory. Find whoever it was on the XBOX Team that managed to keep the new hardware a secret and steal him, quick! How they managed to get that thing shipped and through the FCC is beyond me, but it smacks of brilliance.

 

These are only the three that came to my head. I’ll be doing a entire article on what I hope Microsoft does this fall, but I really just wanted to get these things out in the open. It’s time to smack Apple’s ass around like its a Knight Rider stooge in a bar brawl. Playtime is over guys, it’s time to do epic s***.

One Comment on “Editorials: What The Zune Team Can Learn From E3”

  1. Agree completly. Whenever i talk to anyone about what Zune offers they love it. The problem is that no one has a clue to what zune is. Right now their loosing the popularity contest. No way should they be behind Amazon. Look at the way they push Bing! Its time to step your game up MS.

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