Microsoft have dumped touted iPod-killer Zune for a new Xbox Music service.
Zune
The New York Times reports that at the E3 Conference in LA, Microsoft announced that it will launch a new music service Xbox Music, which will run on the Xbox console, Windows phones, and Windows 8 computers.
Xbox Music will be launched later on this year, so where does that leave the enormous flop that was the Zune player and Zune music, once touted as a competitor to iPods and iTunes?
Microsoft spokeswoman Melissa Stewart said Zune is “going away”, but people who still use the service can access the same music through the Xbox Music platform.
Zune was launched in 2006 and was roundly considered to be a massive failure for the Microsoft brand. They discontinued the hardware in October 2011, after seven versions of the music device. Zune’s market share of mp3 players peaked at 10% and dropped to 2% by 2009.
At least the Zune was good for a joke or two.
