Zune challenge: some shaved heads coming?

[Zunerama Ed.]

Skeptical about Zune's market potential? David Berlind of ZDNet is, and says he will shave his head if Zune hits the #2 spot in the portable digital media player market, by the end of the 2007 holiday season.

Actually that's a pretty safe bet... it would be astounding for Zune to pull ahead to that degree in all hard drive and flash categories, over the next 12 weeks. Zune is now #4 in the digital player market, behind Creative, SanDisk, and You-Know-Who.

Today, Sandisk's Carm Lyman has committed to shaving her head if SanDisk falls below its #2 spot. That's how confident she is of the Sansa product lineup for this holiday season.

No word yet if J Allard has stepped up to the challenge. I guess I could put my 1/8" buzzcut on the line, too - but my expectations are not that the world will turn upside down in the next 12 weeks.

LINK: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=811
LINK: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=820

[Kaiser]

J. Allard should commit himself to a bet where he dresses like a Geisha and accompanies Steve Ballmer everywhere he goes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must use a cotton swab and clean whatever parts of my brain I can reach through my nose.

[Ricardo Dawkins]

Where is the big RDF emitter called Steve Jobs?....come on....nobody cares about this editor or the Sansa manager...

[Zaff Sans]

"Perhaps now you know why, as many of the reports are saying, Microsoft’s new Zunes are practically carbon copies of the latest iPods to come from Apple."

"So far, the consensus in the blogosphere is that Zune is not sufficiently differentiated in function or price from Apple’s offerings to warrant a “style-override.”"


I love how tech "journalism" these days consists of standards that rank just below a MySpace blog.



"Many reports", "consensus in the blogosphere" = Pulling it out of my as$ to support my point.

[Kaiser]

Where is the big RDF emitter called Steve Jobs?....come on....nobody cares about this editor or the Sansa manager...

Maybe it's because he finds bets that involve some sort of embarrassing stunt is kinda stupid.

The consensus in the blogosphere also indicates that Happy Feet was a propaganda movie. To be honest, the blogosphere can lick it. 

[ZappCatt]

Where is the big RDF emitter called Steve Jobs?....come on....nobody cares about this editor or the Sansa manager...

Maybe it's because he finds bets that involve some sort of embarrassing stunt is kinda stupid.

You mean, besides the one where he bet that he would sport a dreadlock wig if the PSP sold a certain amount of units? Sonds like an "embarrasing stunt" to me...

[Kaiser]

Sweet Mama Celeste..he did that? lol

Didn't Allard have a bet where he'd wear a dreadlock wig if he lost? What was that bet again?

Edit: it seems as though J. Allard was the one that made a bet on the PSP.

[JIGGY24]

I'll shave my head once zune is number #1 4 years from now

[margerine]

It was a stupid comment from the team and I imagine it won't happen. I don't think any product could muster it that quickly. I couldn't really care less if this guy shaves his head or not, but at this point I just see it as a hot air contest to begin with.

[Zunerama Ed.]

In fact, all Bach really said was:

"When we're done with the holiday, people will look and say, `There's Apple and there's Microsoft,''' he said. ``The reality of the numerics are that Apple will still be No. 1.''

So Bach wasn't really being a blowhard. I think the ZDNet guy is blowing the statement out of context and proportion.

[JohnCz]

With a November 13th launch....Zune might be able to maintain  6 weeks of #2 sales figures.  I think it comes down to reviews, advertising, price and availability.  Remains to be seen how committed Microsoft is to advertise Zune properly.  I have been thoroughly disappointed in marketing efforts to date....lets hope that changes fast.  I think Microsoft needs to advertise before November 13th.

[Lord Moon]

Sweet Mama Celeste..he did that? lol

Didn't Allard have a bet where he'd wear a dreadlock wig if he lost? What was that bet again?

Edit: it seems as though J. Allard was the one that made a bet on the PSP.

You are correct sir.



http://aarthir.com/2007/05/j-and-dreadful-psp-bet.html

[Vasquez CP1]

I'll shave my head...just for fun! 

[JohnCz]

How will they benchmark sales when I haven't seen any NPD sales statistics in months?  The last update was in June when it was reported they sold 1.2 million Zunes.  So with 3 months gone by I imagine there are close to or over 1.5 million of us.  Does anyone have access to Zune sales statistics?

[Heatwave316]

I think instead of shaving his head completely bald....he should shave off all of his hair accept for a patch in the back of his head shaped like a "Z"...