Microsoft: 'June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers... hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre' Update: It's a hoax
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 12th 2009 4:27AM
posted May 12th 2009 4:27AM
June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers.Then as a followup to the barrage of questions received, @officethemovie adds,
New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre.Naturally, we're expecting the launch of the Zune HD and/or the unveiling of project Pink. Whatever happens, the month of June is going to be historic with Apple's WWDC scheduled to kick off on June 8th and the Palm Pre rumored for release on June 5th or June 7th.
Update: It's worth mentioning that the big E3 gaming expo kicks off on June 2nd (press events on the 1st) -- could be important if there's any truth to the new Zune HD supporting some form of Xbox game integration.
Update 2: Sadly, it's all a hoax -- but it was fun while it lasted.
[Via Neowin, thanks Anthony S.]
Damn...
just like i should have held off buying an ipod for a zune?
wtf
...and I just finished beating up MS about their handheld devices not being able to compete in the maket place on the earlier post about Zune subscriptions.
Good lord - if this is REALLY from Microsoft hope no one's long Palm stock today!
[I say "today" because transient moves are much more dramatic than longer term ones, usually, with "news" like this]
Why would you be worried if you were long palm stock? No announcement is being made today. Also, you would have bought palm stock knowing about the iphone, and many other companies smartphones as well. A zunephone, as it were, would probably not cause much price fluctuation on palm stock.
Since when are people getting excited over a recycled brown turd that is known as the Zune? The Zune HD is in the same state as the Palm Pre.... highly-touted vaporware. Poor Melinda is going to have to carry of those Zune HDs because her husband, Bill, won't allow her to use an iPhone. Ain't that the shizzle. Hold off from buying an iPhone? Who the hell in their right mind would choose some Zune over an iPod Touch or iPhone?
The people who would buy a Zune HD are probably the same people who think Windows 7 isn't basically just a warmed-up, left-over version of stale Vista. They'll find out soon enough when their precious $250 netbooks get indigestion and start puking their internals all over the floor.
M$ talks about the Zune Pass.
Do you think I should buy the new Zune?...Pass!
@Iphonerulz, and all the other iTrolls that are here instead of getting ready for class.
Here's the deal. You dont have to buy one if you dont want. These guys mearly said on Twitter that you should hold off on buying an iPhone or Pre because we have somthing you might like.
From this we get a shower of "enlightened" banter from Apple users that isn't even readable as something that came from a sane mature adult.
"They told me to not buy an iPhone??? IM OFFENDED!!"
"I guess all 4 people that got one are happy"
"You wont get any friends with a Zune"
"Turd brick!!!"
So what exactly are you trying to prove? That product choice stinks? That a company being proud of their product (unless it's Apple) is offensive? That anything that isnt in lock-step with what you bought is wrong?
Okay. Thanks for your input. That is why you guys have the image of douchebags, of pompous windbags, and of mindless shills for a brand.
I know it's the main reason I dont use Apple products, after being a fan of them all through the 90s.
The first page is very negative with only one highly ranked comment. But its well worth looking for :)
@Look_Around_You - Well said. Even though I am an Apple fanboy, a college graduate, a working professional, and have zero desire to buy a Zune, it does seem intriguing that I would at least look at it to see what it's all about. I'm not going to be buying a phone from either as I am a hardcore BlackBerry user, but I never cared for the Zune's interface. I don't like the Text based navigation menus. While Apple's is prettier, the Zune does have some cool features that the iPod/Phone doesn't incorporate and if it wasn't for Microsoft in the mix, there won't be any competition, and without competition there won't be any innovation from any company.
I have a feeling the announcement will be tegra related. That tegra demo was better than both the iphone and pre combined.
I have a Zune and it sits on my shelf collecting dust. I never really got intot he thing. I bought an iphone and I love it. I am not sure it makes me a whiny fan boy like some people say though...
I always find it funny how when people dont agree with you and share the exact same opinion as you they become less of an individual. I for one could care less if people want to call me a douche for liking an apple product or a MS product, of course I also dont really care what people on a forum think of me either.
I think all products have their ups and downs. I can find flaw in both my iphone and a Zune. I sure wouldnt hang my hat on an inpending MS release of anything though...
I bet Verizon gets this Zunephone. They like easily crippled phone OS's so a M$ ZunePhone will be perfect for them to fail upon. I guess anything beats the Storm.
Regarding the mention of Tegra [in the Zune], didn't Microsoft and NVIDIA part ways after the original Xbox? You would think that if Microsoft did release a new Zune, that would integrate with the 360 AND that the video would be compatible with what they're using now....ATI. But that's just my thought. Maybe it doesn't matter if the video chips are from different manufacturers.
@William
Since you hate your zune so much, sell it to me. I'll be glad to take it off your hands. I love my 8gb zune, but I just need more space. Im obviously waiting until June to buy a new one, but wouldn't mind picking up a 80/120gb zune.
Iphonerulz - You post the most worthless bandwagon loving immature crap around man. Besides your lame name are the use of "M$" and "shizzle" as examples of your brilliant lingo. You are an uninspired troll fanboy who can do little else that kiss Apple’s backside compulsively. Nothing you say is even remotely valuable to discussions. If you bothered to try any of the products that you talk about you would know how invalid your opinions are.
I love my iPhone, but the Zune is damn nice and has a great feel to it. Hell, my wife uses hers everyday even though she too has an iPhone. So stop acting like you know a damn thing about other consumer’s wants or a product’s place in this market. Giving another product some credit won’t cost you your imaginary job with Apple.
I have one other thought on this...
What if there was a new phone that did NOT require joining an existing major phone service (AT&T, Verizon, et al). So say it were an IP based phone, that as long as you have internet connectivity, you were able to make phone calls over the internet. And say this phone were from a major company. Could be a game changer.
Problem is reliability of the phone Nick. You need a phone that works pretty much anywhere - so without wireless internet connections being live all over the phone would be useless to people. Maybe if we developed a national wireless system it could work.
If the device is running windows mobile 6.5, I won't be holding off. Can't say I'm not curious, though. I can say, however, that the device in question isn't coming on Sprint, so it does me no good.
Wow I was expecting September...That's when they launched last year.
Maybe it's an anouncement for Zune on WinMo to take some of the bite off the Pre and the iPhone.
If you read the Twitter post it now says,
"@Gilly2468 @Chimerica @clubdirthill @serenecloud New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. :)"
So I'm now pretty sure it's something pertaining to the mobile phone market.
Now, let me preface this by saying I like a lot of MS products (I was one of the few to like Vista, and I've heard the Zune is actually better in many ways than the iPod, even if market share is not one of those ways.)
But, I hope for Microsoft's sake that it's not just Zune software for WM. If it's as simple as that, then they really just don't get it.
There's more to the success of the iPhone and the buzz of the Pre than just having good music software. It's about the entire interface in general, and at this point, Microsoft just needs to start from scratch in that department.
In good Microsoft tradition, this will probably be just a product announcement (available Qx 2010) rather than a release.
"hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre" is such a bold statement.
This news is changing the whole scene
announcing it on the same time as iphone/pre. it must mean they've got something up their sleeve. lets hope they do, otherwise they'd look like a fool.
The TEGRA PHONE is coming, lads.........................
This is it.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/mobile_games_demos.html
"Twitter will be integrated in Word"?
Great. Nothing like a full featured multipage document publishing software to type 140 characters or less.
BTW Isn't it ironic that I couldn't tweet this comment because it's longer than those 140 characters?
wow, June is gonna be a crazy crazy month
it will be EPIC!!
i've been holding off getting a new phone/mp3 player for half a year, and now there' 3 big competitors all coming. WOOT!
reminds me of the console war of sony, microsoft and nintendo.
Your avatar fascinates me.
Yeah, I can't wait for june. My theory about MS is that if they were smart they would launch this not as the Zunephone(zunes have an awful reputation) but rather as the XBox Phone, and oh yeah the media player is zune. And also make an iPod Touch competitor. And make mobile ports of Halo, etc.
Ok MS, I'm buying a N97.
More Winmo/Zune crap... I'm so excited!!!
Remember if you are a win mobile user you will be disappointed with Nokia/Symbian software, NO kinetic (flick) scrolling on anything apart from the browser & no word suggestion/correction when typing. Until Symbian corrects this I will not return, my heart is Symbian my mind says NO.
Will it be like MS Office 2010? Fatware galore. Now with an even bigger runtime, demanding even more hardware, and even less intuitive!
MS Office is most definitely bloated, I'll give you that, but since 2007 it has had the virtue of being the only intuitive Office software on the planet. It has its problems, but give credit where credit is due. Microsoft is the master of Office suite UI design.
And yet their operating system lacks a spell checker. What are we paying for again?
What the fuck are you talking about? Since when did MS Office have no spell-checker?
I have Office 2007 running on an old P4 with only 256MB of RAM. Loads and runs just as fast as Office 2003.
It doesn't feel bloated at all.
@chefgon_ign - Have you ever looked at iWork? While I do grant that it lacks a database solution vs Access and a dedicated publisher like... Publisher, (and Pages does just as good a job) it's overall worlds more intuitive and more productive than MS Office. It's end-products look far more professional and original than anything you'll create in Office.
I still use Word from time to time for grading students' papers, but I would never create anything in Office ever again. If Apple sold a PC version of iWork, I could see it gaining SIGNIFICANT marketshare VERY quickly, especially as it's only $80 for the full version.
@Britboy
Having used both iWork and Office there are two points to bear in mind:
1) Office is much better on a Windows platform than a Mac. Why this is the case I don't know although I could hazard a few guesses.
2) Office is far better than iWork for overall productivity. iWork is nice but it's definitely the lite version and, frankly, if you want that you'd be better off with Open Office.
@RemDX
Read carefully: And yet their OPERATING SYSTEM lacks a spell checker. Textboxes on the OS don't inherit the ability to spell check. Without Office installed (and the correct version I might add) you don't get spell check in web pages, email, etc. Or worse, you get it in the wrong language (google: old MS-Office, French, Outlook Express, spell check, WTF)
Could you be any more of a troll
I could come up with a comeback but then i realized i had better things to do.
I love how they're using Tweetie. Too bad for them atebits is a mac/iphone only developer...
Money talks.
I didnt notice that, it shows that they have to use a mac seeing as its much more stable LOL
That does seem a bit odd, doesn't it. Wonder if they are using it on an iPhone or the Mac version? O_o
Unlike Apple, MS isn't a cult leader. They don't pretend that some of their employees don't use Macs or iPhones.
Well, aside from Ballmer. Pretty sure he wants to be a cult leader.
huh??
Bill Gates banned ipods and such from his household
http://gizmodo.com/5162674/iphones-and-ipods-banned-at-gates-home
One thing i always hated was how nothing is capitalized. That really annoys me for some reason.
The Zune80 was a great competitor to the iPod classic but now they are falling behind. People are migrating more towards touch screen PMP's like the iPod Touch, i hope they can come out with something good.
There is nothing like (good) competition. Creative is just awful and nothing from iRiver appeals to me, but the Zunes are always quite interesting.
Creative is just awful? Being one of the few devices that can actually copy and paste folders/files in Windows Explorer and can do all the managing without any extra software other than Windows. I find it hard to say it's awful.
I have a creative player and really nice! Creative is quite under-rated to be honest.
Ive owned both the Zen and the Zen Photo so ive been looking at their current product line and and safely say Creative suck :-P
Drag and drop doesnt appeal to me in teh slightest. That would just be one huge headache.
Really? Drag and drop nothing that special? So you like to have a "library" of music and when you don't want it on your device you remove it from your library so it takes it from your device. Also all the programs that use that method of transferring music are so bloated compared to a music player such as Winamp. Also if you're on the go and say at someone's house and you want to add an album on the fly on their computer you have to put up with the BS of "syncing" and ohh your player isn't authorized on this computer blah blah. But yeah i understand managing your music instead of it managing you is a pretty crappy feature. On the hardware side Creative has been pretty boring since the Zen Vision:M but I definitely like their method of management. I guess you would call them "advanced" users.
@ insky - That tweet is in response to my question (I am @Gilly2468) about the zune announcement and then they replied with stuff about a phone so there must be some kind of zune/phone integration or device.
Microsoft are advising us not to buy an iPhone? Now I've seen everything.
Seems kind of off the norm for a corporate entity, huh? I wonder if Microsoft will come out with a mini-disclaimer saying "that was the opinion of the tweeter, not official Microsoft policy".
Odd. I recall that Microsoft have on multiple occasions, including recently this year, denied any type of ZunePhone project. While I understand that they have bought Danger and I did expect a long-term integration of technologies (probably post WM7, I was guessing more WM7.5/8), I assumed their denial would have ruled out a ZunePhone this year, however this tweet seems to run against these previous denials. It's a little surprising because Microsoft as a company is generally much more open with it's future product releases than other companies, however Zune has been the exception to this.
I like my Zune but will definitely be buying the Pre when it comes out.
Wow, this is war!
But i'd seriously LOL if they said 'refrain from buying the pre/iphone' because they are announcing the zune hd.
Wow 250gb zune with office support! Not likely...
If its running WinMo forget it. My experience with that pushed me to the "dark side" aka iPhone, then MacBook, LOL. Very happy with it all. Touch wood had much fewer issues than my windows counterparts and I'm very impressed with the support for windows (better than I expected) Im even able to program my MS C# code on the mac without a windows Bootcamp or VM.
How are u able to do that? (work in C# without Windows)
There is no official support for C# on Mac OSX due to it not supporting .NET.
However, there are ways of running .NET code on OSX through WINE and Virtualization.
And since its just code, you can easily write your C# code, but without a .NET handler, you cant test it without one.
Again, OSX has NO native support for .NET. It probably never will, because even though Microsoft wants everyone to program in C# (and I cant blame them, the language is unbelievably easy along with XAML), they dont want to migrate it to OSX, and therefore to their true enemy, Linux.
Why telling people not to buy iPhone/Palm Pre? Shouldn't they say iPod Touch? Or are we going to see a Zunephone/early WinMo 6.5?
Yeah, snappy reply there. I'm sure you've broken his spirit iansilv.
More competition is a good thing for everyone, regardless of whether or not you care for Zune.
Let me guess zune software slapped in the new WInMo on some over priced and un responsive htc hardware! with no headphone jack. Humm
I have to admit, I'm a pretty big Zune fan. My Zune 80 is pretty much the best MP3 player i've ever owned. With my contract re-newel hitting in July, i have to decide fairly soon what phone I want. No doubt any Zune phone that comes out, wouldn't be out in the UK any time soon. But i'll settle for a Zune HD if I can get my hands on one :)
Finally we'll see what project Pink was all about
850MHZ 3G HSDPA, OSX Compatibility and cheaper than the iPhone = sold.
Are u kidding me... who uses OSX in this mordern age???
So basically you want them to produce something that works for the smallest number of users possible.
Hopefully it'll be a Zune launch in the UK, so I can finally subscribe to Zune Pass (and redeem the points I got when I bought the case), and so I can actually buy the next great model (if it is) in a proper shop.
Oh!!! damn!!! crappy engadget comment system.
How about one of those "international launches"? That'd be handy
I believe that Microsoft needs to borrow Google Earth in order to realise that there is more to planet Earth than the continental United States of America.
Regretting my n97 purchase even more now. It's just getting worse and worse :( That's not cool man, i love my zune80 and would definitly buy a zune phone. Hate this.. :(
I've been rocking my Zune30 for a while. I love the thing. I am not a huge Mircosoft guy but i hate the fact that EVERYONE has an Ipod, Ipod touch and Iphone. I have never had a problem with it. It is EXTREMELY durable. And as far as im concerned if they make something else, As long as it says Zune I'm gonna probably buy it.
zomg I'm so anti-conformist I'll never buy an iPod. Am I cool yet, guys?
zomg I'm so anti-conformist I'll never buy Windows. Am I cool yet, guys?
zomg I'm so anti-conformist I'll never buy Windows. Am I cool yet, guys?
The Zune30 is very durable and it can also serve as a blunt object when you need to defend yourself from the ipod zombies. I have a Zune but it doesn't get too much use anymore, I just use my Touch Pro to play most of my music while I'm on the go these days. I do hope Zune integration in Windows Mobile is a part of the announcement. It wouldn't be big enough to start all of this hype, but, it would definitely be cool and I'd finally get a ZunePass.
microsoft's learning from apple in creating hype before product launch, but HOPE IT DELIVERS!!!
Yeah because Apple are so renowned for tweeting about their new products before they're announced, just to build hype... They definitely don't try to shut down blogs who leak information :)
Learning? You mean following. We've seen this for decades now. Nothing will change, save the fact nobody buys their music products. By all standards, the Zune has been a huge failure.
I can only hope you become violently ill from laughing so hard.
....both of them
Hm the Zune lovers...thats about two people right...Bill Gates and Ballmer...?
'Historic'?
We're talking media players and phones here...
With the state the world is in are some of you guys not taking all this stuff just a little too seriously?
What exactly is the "state of the world" that makes it unacceptable to like gadgets? What what state should the world return to in order for gadget loving to be acceptable again? Maybe you're the one taking things a little too seriously?
this is a tech blog my friend- for most of us this is what we live for haha, maybe you should be reading fleshbot?
Zune... lover...?
Oh god I am so confused what is going on he;lp
Huh... The 'Zune Lovers' eh?
Those 4 guys must be really happy they got a mention.
The originality of comments in this article is awe-inspiring.
I don't have a zune though, I live in the UK.
If you're interested, I have an iPod Classic, not that this makes any difference to anything. I didn't realise whatever portable music player I bought had an impact on the amount of friends I could make, or my lifestyle in general till I started talking to trolls like you on engadget.
Oh come on Microsoft, you can't change the fanbois' minds. they are pretty smart but have no sense of money and marketing . What makes you think you can win them over?
Announcement likely to be:-
1. ZuneHD
2. Windows 7 Retail dates
3. Office 2010
4. "Pink"... my guess is still a Zune phone.
It does- significantly. Zunes make you ugly. And friendless.
I am a fanboy of the people who call people fanboys because they don't like something.
Typical microsoft vaporware. Hey all you sheep! Just wait because microsoft promises to have a mythical product.
hey
This stereotypically fits your job, ironic.