WP7’s secret sauce
Microsoft has announced the further international expansion of Zune, which it calls its "digital entertainment service". Note the change in emphasis there; no longer is it a piece of hardware trying, and failing, to take on the Apple iPod, it's a service.
The expansion will take place this autumn. Not coincidentally, Windows Phone 7 also launches this autumn - October 11th is the front runner - and that's why Zune is now a service. It will become the cloud media service for Windows Phone 7, syncing with and existing alongside Windows and Xbox LIVE.
If we were feeling charitable to Microsoft we might even suggest this was always the plan. That Zune has been an extended public beta of its cloud media service, that Kin was a further public beta of phone/cloud functionality, and that the plan always was to unite all these things in WP7. In reality, necessity was probably the mother of that invention and Microsoft is hoping to make one big right out of several wrongs.
So what are we getting? The UK, among others, gets version 4.7 to download for free. It functions as a WP7 synchronisation client and an equivalent of Apple's iTunes. Only the UK and France get the full monty of Zune marketplace offerings:
- Zune pass: Monthly subscription service costing £8.99 (€9.99) per month for unlimited streaming and downloads. However, only the US gets the option of keeping ten downloads per month.
- Music purchase: Can purchase music videos too
- Video purchase: Movies - can be viewed via all three platforms
- Movie rental: Extends Zune video from Xbox LIVE to the other two platforms
"The integration between Zune, Windows Phone 7 and Xbox LIVE is an exciting expansion in our entertainment offerings," said Craig Eisler, corporate VP of the interactive entertainment business group at Microsoft. "Zune enables users to access the entertainment they want, wherever they want it - and now, more people than ever will be able to enjoy the freedom and flexibility that the Zune service offers."
To be honest, the omission of the option to keep ten downloads per month takes a lot of the gloss off this service for us. We can only hope this is a temporary thing until Microsoft comes to an appropriate arrangement with the rights-holders in each country.
But that aside this looks like a big part of the secret sauce that will give WP7 a chance of competing with iOS and Android. Together with gaming from Xbox LIVE and Microsoft's ubiquitous productivity products, WP7 could offer a sufficiently compelling set of apps and services to tempt people to defect from the two smartphone market leaders. Microsoft will be praying that's the case.
