10:00 AM

Microsoft Zune and the Hedgehog

This weeks focus is on Microsoft's Zune portable media player (reffered to in this blog as "the Zune player". To sum up the recent news; Microsoft announced on the Zune website that the Zune player will no longer be produced. This announcement arrived after 2 years of no hardware refreshes to the platform; so the announcement is not unexpected. This official statement was then retracted with the excuse that the web page hosting the statement was put up in error. Microsoft intends to continue on with the Zune to appease the customers who are happy w/ their current phones, but would still like to access the features of Xbox Live or simply have a Microsoft product.

With this latest news, I now will turn attention to the Hedgehog concept as taught by Jim Collins in Good to Great. I would be amiss to not talk mainly about the concept that strikes me as most obvious; "understanding what you can (and cannot) be the best at". I find it safe to say that the Zune player has never been at the top of the mobile media player market. Although Microsoft is a very serious player in the technology market and can afford to take a loss for many years in a certain area, it doesn't seem like the company is even putting forth the effort to compete in the market at all. Perhaps there are unknown variables hidden behind the Microsoft veil but only time will tell. So far, time has confirmed that Microsoft cannot be the best in the world in the mobile media player market.

However... the Hedgehog concept doesn't focus on if you ARE the best, have the intention to be the best, or even a plan to be the best. Instead, it's an understanding of what you can be the best at. The question then arises; can Microsoft be the best in the mobile media player market? They certainly have the resources to do so, but it seems that they are not deeply passionate about doing so (another Hedgehog concept).

My final thought to Microsoft: Decide if you can be the best with the Zune player and figure out if you are passionate about being so. If not, put back up your original discontinuance statement and focus on the Windows Phone 7.

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