IndexSummaryIntroductionZune: Microsoft's Biggest Failure Zune: Solution AnalysisConclusionSummary As one of the powerhouses of the tech industry, most people believe that Microsoft has almost absolute power to stay relevant on the market, making Microsoft automatically have a great ability to adapt to the market itself. However, Microsoft also has its downsides, including its inability to adapt to the market, resulting in few of its products being called failures. This report will delve into Microsoft's failure to adapt one of its products, the cause of which was beaten by an already established rival, which led to the downfall of the product: Zune. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayIntroZune: Microsoft's Biggest FailureWhat's the first thing you think of when you hear the word "digital music player"? Most people, over the years, have linked the term to Apple's iPod. Since 2004, Apple has already dominated the digital music player industry, making it the sole power (Ziberg, 2012). Did Apple have challengers and competitors? In fact, they had a competitor that came from the incumbent of the tech industry, which is none other than Microsoft. Have you ever heard the word "Zune"? If you haven't, it's probably because he hasn't made a name for himself there either. Zune is Microsoft's digital music player, released in late 2006, under the name Zune 30. Zune actually has a dual meaning, one is the music player gadget itself and the other is the software that complements the gadget (Wikipedia , 2018). Zune: The Solution Before meeting its fate as a discontinued gadget, the Zune had several versions online. There are four generations and seven types in the short-lived history of Zune (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes: The ancestor of the Zune device had its own signature, which is a device that was brown in color and bulky in size. This generation of Zune and all its predecessors have the same main feature of sharing songs with other Zune users via wireless technology, which at that time wireless technology was not yet common. Unfortunately this feature has its weakness which is the limit of three times in three days for transferred songs. This generation's upgrades include the different size of the device's memory capacity and the Zune Pad which is known to be sensitive to the user's touch. The only update this generation is to the device's memory size, one of which is the largest size for a music playing gadget ever released. Unlike its ancestors that used the Zune Pad, the Zune HD was already a touchscreen device. Coming from the industry-leading company, it must be surprising why the gadget could be a huge failure since it had the same features and skills as the 'Apple's iPod and it too had a lot of resources from the company that supported it (St., 2009) . Where did it go wrong? What happened to the Zune that caused it to fail irremediably? From this report we will find out what happened and, perhaps, Microsoft will also be able to learn from the mistake. Before meeting its fate as a discontinued gadget, the Zune had several versions in its line, four generations and seven types in fact (Wikipedia, 2018), which includes:AnalysisTo help you better understand the problem, the Analysis tool will be used in this report SCQ and subsequently the KIA Analysis. The analysis is as follows:SituationMicrosoft, the multinational technology company that makes computer software its most powerful weapon, has launcheda digital music player. The digital music player is not the first of its kind. Experts assumed, before the launch of Zune, that Zune can beat the iPod in the digital music player market. Complication iPod already dominated the market when Zune was launched. Zune sales never reached Microsoft's goal, in fact it didn't even reach a significant increase. Zune fans were also not satisfied with Zune. Question What were the causes of Zune's failure to beat iPod? The key question " What were the causes of the Zune's failure to beat the iPod?" can be divided into several issues as follows: Hypothesis: Zune failed to beat the iPod because it was always late in releasing its product. Analysis: Zune didn't go down without a fight. Based on the introduction in the previous chapter, Zune released several such types every year starting from 2006 until 2009, which resulted in four generations and seven types of Zune device. Unfortunately, Microsoft's efforts were not enough, even almost without impact. Compared to the digital music player giant, Zune was always late to the party (Covert, 2011). It almost always released its product two years after the release of its equivalent product in the iPod brand. To make an exact comparison. It would be acceptable if the Zune was late once or twice, even if that meant the door-opening product was the one launched late. Incredibly, Microsoft managed to release all the Zune devices late, rendering the products irrelevant to the market at that point. Hypothesis: Zune didn't even have a chance to shine because it didn't have any major differences that differentiated it from the iPod. Analysis: Overall, the specs of every generation of Zune that has ever existed and that of the iPod are pretty much the same. Obviously, they have different kinds of approach in the style of their products (Malley, 2017), such as the menu interface (Zune is more concentrated in typographic design, it also has the patented font) or simple as it seems outwardly, Zune's is more bold while The iPod is more chic (Costello, 2018). Zune had several features that were not present in the iPod and could be considered the Zune's few strong points, one of these was the Wi-Fi functionality, which was very advanced for its time thus making it superfluous, especially for a music player. digital music. Hypothesis: Zune wasn't expensive but it wasn't cheap either, especially compared to the iPod, which made its competitive potential even smaller. Analysis: With its equivalent product, the Zune was relatively cheaper than the iPod. But then, every Zune product and its equivalent had a gap of at least 2 years in the release date. From that point, relatively cheaper wasn't really an option as it should have been much cheaper. To be more precise, the prices of the two products will also be compared based on their release dates. The prices of both products were relatively in the same range. With much more up-to-date specifications, the iPod unfailingly won the price competition. The three key issues mentioned affected the sales of Zune devices. Sales barely reached Microsoft's target as Zune initially held only 3% of the market share (Robins, 2009), the highest being 4%, when iPod held a total of 71% (Kreps, 2009 ). When compared to iPod sales, only one word could describe the situation: tragic. iPod sales throughout the year fluctuated dynamically with many high peaks, while Zune sales barely touched the iPod sales bottom. Even in its last year of existence, Zune sales were stagnant and low (Pingdom, 2009), for..