NBC/Universal shows their spiteful side
According to PC World this morning, NBC/Universal has moved to the Zune platform after abandoning Apple’s iTunes Store, the most successful online digital retailer in the world.
I generally don’t post profanity on here, but WTF?
I just don’t get it. Not only is the Zune a complete joke (it doesn’t even have a clock), but it’s selling very poorly compared to the iPod. It gets lukewarm reviews, and the Zune Marketplace software is one of the worst pieces of junk I’ve ever used.
Another point I don’t understand is that NBC/U went from a dual-OS platform (Mac/Windows via iTunes) to a single-OS platform on Windows. With Apple gaining marketshare lately, it seems like a poor decision to pidgeonhole yourself with one OS, even if Windows is #1.
NBC/U also claimed that they wanted Apple to charge $4.99 for each of their episodes and Apple refused to budge from the $1.99 price. Well, the episodes are now $1.99 on the Zune Marketplace which says to me that Microsoft is giving NBC/U much more of a profit just to say that they have exclusive content from NBC/U. I wonder if Microsoft is making any money off this at all.
A few months back, NBC/Universal pulled their catalog from the iTunes Store, claiming that Apple wanted too much of a percentage of the sales of their TV shows and movies. That in itself was an odd move because there was nowhere else to go. I figured that NBC/U would be happy that people were spending money instead of pirating their content. Last year, nobody took the Zune Marketplace seriously, and today, people still don’t.
I don’t see how this is a win/win for both Microsoft and NBC/U. Something tells me that this is a rather lopsided deal, and it smells of someone at NBC/U doing it out of pure spite. If that’s true, it’s the customers that suffer. Does NBC/U seriously think that their content is going to move Zunes? iPods are a phenomenon and both Microsoft and NBC/U are daft if they think this partnership is going to help in the slightest.
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[...] Starman’s Geek Fridge wrote an interesting post today on NBC/Universal shows their spiteful sideHere’s a quick excerptAccording to PC World this morning, NBC/Universal has moved to the Zune platform after abandoning Ap [...]
[...] Starman’s Geek Fridge wrote an interesting post today on NBC/Universal shows their spiteful sideHere’s a quick excerptA few months back, NBC/Universal pulled their catalog from the iTunes Store, claiming that Apple wanted too much of a percentage of the sales of their TV shows and m ovies….With Apple gaining marketshare lately, it seems like a poor decision to pidgeonhole yourself with one OS, even if Windows is #1….NBC/U also claimed that they wanted Apple to charge $4. 99 for each of their episodes and Apple refused to budge from the $1. 99 price…. [...]
I think this is just a move to add insult to injury. They are leaving iTunes as a statement against the “bad deal” they made with Jobs. Honestly, the biggest move was when they pulled from iTunes to work with Amazon instead. This Zune thing is just a little extra “f you” to Apple, even if they don’t intend to make sales with it.