The PS3 and Zune will they be the two future major failures?
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The Zune and PS3 will they be to slap Microsoft and Sony? This is certainly a question that may arise, while the press of à ‰ United States strongly critical Zune, while others point the finger at the new Sony console.
Then begin this article by The Independent UK, which simply asks whether the PlayStation 3 will not be the new Betamax (PlayStation 3 Will Be The New Betamax?). A question for Sony bit optimistic, but that has already been asked repeatedly in recent months. But what is the Betamax? For the youngest of you, remember that the Betamax was launched by Sony in 1975 in Japan and the United States à ‰. His goal was simply to become the new format of videotape of the planet. Unfortunately for the Japanese, despite the many changes in its format (BII and BIII), VHS JVC, launched in 1976, conquered almost the entire market, after several years of bitter struggle. Thus, according to this article on this topic Belgium, the VHS in 1986 already had 85% market share, against 7.5% for the Betamax. If you want to know more about the Betamax, also speaking Belgian site, you can take a look at the article written on Wikipedia (English).
This failure for Sony has become over time an example. The example that a quality product, but suffering from political criticism and a network below its competitors, could suffer a real blow. The PS3 can she make a Betamax? The question concerns the console, but also and especially of course the format flagship, that is to say the Blu-Ray. We have repeatedly discussed the war which opposed to HD-DVD Microsoft and Toshiba, and we will not return it. However, we may ask whether the issue of The Independent is not badly put. One can certainly compare the Betamax to Blu-Ray, although the situations are different, but the Blu-Ray for the PS3 is secondary, as is the HD-DVD for Xbox 360. But Sony's console seems very much in demand by consumers, despite its high price. Its very low sales, whether in Japan or North America are paid only meager stock available, and not to weak demand, as is the case for example for the Xbox 360 at the rising sun .
The postponement of the PS3 in Europe, combined with its poor sales, will they all of a Betamax Blu-Ray encore? Answering this question would be worthy of Madame Sun, since if a format should be imposed, it is verified that a few years. Meanwhile, the HD-DVD may well get a head start on Blu-Ray within the next few months.
Across the Atlantic, the Chicago Suntimes not asking a question but gives a hint to say the least scathing: avoid that idiot Zune (Avoid the loony Zune). Loony has many meanings in English, crazy to ridiculous, to silly, but to better understand the opinion of the tester, here is a translation of a passage from the beginning of his article:
 "" à ‰ Avoid "This is my main message. The Zune is a square wheel, a product that is so absurd and so logically immunized against the success that it evokes something akin to pity.  »
These harsh words are obviously related to defects of the Zune, including its many restrictions, despite its undeniable technical qualities. These defects are also famous circumvented, as you learn this morning via a simple hack, accessible to everyone. This change does this mean the deal?
Meanwhile actual figures for sales of the Zune, it does not appear that U.S. consumers are snapping up the player from Microsoft. And while we're talking about a European release as of next year, some do not hesitate to say that the current Zune will just never do the day on the old continent, relying instead on a Zune 2.
Source: PCimpact
[...] The firm hopes to sell Redmond a million copies of its Zune United States of ICIA in late June 2007. The Redmond company expects to sell one million copies of its Zune player in the U.S. by the end of June 2007. His device, designed to compete with Apple's hold on the market has been sold across the Atlantic on Nov. 14. According to analyst firm NPD, the Zune was second in the list of best selling music players right out, but fell to fifth place a week later, behind Apple, SanDisk, Creative and Memorex.  "Sales have started well, they are in line with what we had prévuÂ" guarantee, however, Jason Reindorp, Zune marketing director at Microsoft.  "Microsoft has a very realistic view of the market, no one was foolish enough to think that we would be arriving and reverse tendances.Â" But the editor, however, refuses to give its sales figures, as the number of subscriptions subscribed to its platform download Zune Market Place.  "We were even more realistic with Zune Market PlaceÂ" says Jason Reindorp.  "Our numbers are really petitsÂ," he concedes, but stressed that Microsoft has not launched major promotional campaign for this service. [...]