Microsoft shuffles management at Zune division

Software giant Microsoft seems serious about turning its portable digital music player Zune, which has faced an uphill battle against the rapidly-evolving iPod in the digital music market, into a money making machine.

The Redmond firm Friday decided to shuffle its management at its portable digital music player division to oversee the music and entertainment platform in a better way. Last week, Microsoft introduced new versions of its Zune portable media player, in an attempt to grab the monster share of the digital music business pioneered by its chief rival, Apple Computer Inc.

World’s leading software maker on Friday named a new name for the position of vice-president at the Zune division. In an e-mail sent to the employees serving in Zune unit, Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division President Robbie Bach said that Rick Thompson has been appointed corporate vice president of Zune, who will replace most of the business development duties previously performed by J Allard.

J Allard, a corporate vice president with Microsoft's entertainment and devices unit, oversees the Zune’s design and development. He has been overseeing the Zune since the departure of Zune’s godfather, Bryan Lee in February this year.

Allard, who is a longtime Microsoft executive, has also played a key role in the company's Xbox video-game consoles. Rick will report to Allard, who will reportedly continue to oversee design aspects of the Zune.

Newly appointed Zune VP Rick Thompson is a long-time Microsoft insider, serving in the company for the last twenty years. He joined Microsoft back in 1987 as a product manager for Microsoft's mouse business. In 1991, he became general manager of Microsoft's hardware operations and was again promoted to vice-president in 1996.

After briefly leaving the company in 2000, Thompson returned in 2002 to oversee the development of the operating system software for Windows Media Center and the Tablet computers.

Zune, which came out in mid-November to soft reviews, currently lags far behind Apple Inc.'s iPod in the United States. Zune features a 30GB memory capacity, wi-fi capability, larger screens and built-in FM radio. It can also transfer songs to another Zune using a wireless technology feature. Zune sales hit the one million mark in merely nine months.

iPod was launched five and half years ago in the year 2001, since then, there has not been a looking back for Apple Inc., and has continued to introduce ten different iPod models to date. This includes five series of iPod, two series of iPod nano, two series of iPod mini and two generations of iPod shuffle. The first iPod had a storage capacity of 5GB initially, which over the years, has developed and grown to proffer a tremendous capacity of 80GB.

Zune has faced an uphill battle against the rapidly-evolving iPod in the digital music market. Microsoft claims to have sold 1.2 million Zune devices between November and the end of its fiscal year in June, while Apple has sold 9.8 million iPods in its fiscal third quarter ended in June and more than 110m iPods in the six years since the Apple player has been on the market.

In January this year, Market research firm Current Analysis had released results on how Microsoft's digital music player Zune had fared in the market. According to the research results, Apple accounted for 64 per cent of digital audio devices sold during the period, Sandisk for 22 per cent and Microsoft for 3 per cent.

In an effort to bolster the sales of its digital media player, the software company recently has unveiled an expanded line of portable digital media players that include three new models of Zune portable media players- Zune 80GB hard-drive model, the ultra-portable Zune 4GB and Zune 8GB.

Available in black, the 80GB hard-drive model has a 3.2-inch screen and it comes with premium headphones. Priced at $249.99, the black Zune is 27 percent smaller than the original $199.99 Zune, which had a 30 GB hard drive and a smaller screen.

Both, ultra-portable Zune 4GB, which will cost $149.99, and Zune 8GB, which will sell for $199.99, are smaller, flash-based players and will be available in pink, green, black and glossy red. These flash-based versions of its flagship digital music player Zune are similar in shape and size to the original Apple iPod Nano.

The second generation of the Zune, scheduled to go on sale in North America in mid-November, features the Zune Pad navigation button, with its touch-sensitive surface and a shiny glass screen. Every Zune device will have a bright color display that is perfect for showing off album art, pictures, videos and podcasts.

Like the original Zune, the new models include an FM radio tuner and the ability to wirelessly share songs with other Zune owners. The entire new Zune line will use Wi-Fi to sync music, movies and photos wirelessly and automatically with users' PCs.