Los Angeles — According to a report in the Hollywood Reporter by way of Reuters, Microsoft executives are reported to have been hunting the Hollywood studios and production companies lately in anticipation of licensing exclusive original video content for the Zune media player to gain an edge on Apple’s iPod, which has struggled to gain traction in the marketplace.
The company states that the project is in “exploratory phase,” which will look at adding “non-conventional programming” to the Zune in order to capitalize on the device’s social networking features. What the company means by non-conventional is unclear at this stage.
When Microsoft introduced its Zune media players back in 2006, it was originally hailed as an “iPod killer,” believing Apple’s seeming stranglehold on the portable media player market would be broken now that a heavyweight like Microsoft had, finally, decided to enter the fray.
But the Zune media player has failed to gain footing as a credible threat to its Apple counterpart. The iPod still appears strong, and despite a product refresh a year later, the Zune line has not exactly been racking up serious sales compared to the iPod — Microsoft has sold about 2 million Zunes since its launch, while Apple moves well over 3 million iPods a month.
While Microsoft has persistently denied rumors that Zune would expand into communications a la Apple’s iPhone and produce some sort of Zune phone, but has otherwise gone nearly silent on the future of the Zune, leaving industry watchers to wonder just what Microsoft planned to do with the Zune platform.
However, instead of just stock up on traditional formats like sitcoms, Zune is looking for “non-conventional programming” that can capitalize on the device’s social networking platform, according to Richard Winn, director of entertainment development at Zune.
“What we would be looking to do with any form of original content is the added component that Zune could provide that iTunes or any competing service could not,” Winn said.
One of the main reasons credited for the iPod’s continued dominance of the market is the iTunes store. The Apple service allows users to easily download and transfer both music and video onto the iPod.
The company reportedly hopes to counter by securing the rights to exclusive content that Apple would not be able to license and distribute through iTunes. Microsoft may also look to take advantage of the Zune’s wireless networking features, which have not yet proven to be major selling point.
“The thing we have all been looking for is — What can we do that is a little more interesting than just looking at a piece of video?” Winn said.
Microsoft has been dogged by rumors that Zune will be scrapped. Robbie Bach, president of entertainment and devices division at Microsoft, raised eyebrows last month among Microsoft watchers by barely mentioning Zune in a session with analysts.
It is a far cry from when Zune launched nearly two years ago as a music player. But Microsoft has broadened its utility just as iPod has, introducing a video marketplace in May with a few select content partners including NBC Universal and MTV Networks. Gaming also is slowly being added.
Now Zune is looking to not only add programming that iTunes does not deliver but also take the same programming it does and supplement it with Zune Social. Microsoft already has begun experimenting with adding extra features to video game “Ninja Gaiden II” and NBC series “Heroes.”
But the iPod has no exclusive content. Becoming the only hand-held device to boast exclusive programming could represent either a bold reinvention of Zune or a last-ditch effort to stave off extinction.
Whether Microsoft can pull it off remains to be seen: with only two million Zunes in the wild, the Zune tagline “welcome to the social” is more like “welcome to the wasteland” for many Zune users, some of whom have reported never encountering another Zune with which they can use social networking features.