This particular post was inspired by their Music side. We all know what happened to PlaysForSure.
This time, let's look even further to their item that cannibalized PlaysForSure - Zune.
From Paul Thurrott:
"With Xbox Music Coming, Microsoft Cuts Zune Features
With its coming Xbox Music and Xbox Video services looming, Microsoft this week alerted Zune users via email about a couple of music-related features that will be dropped as that latter brand is put out to pasture. Among the walking dead are Mixview and channel playlists, Zune HD apps, and music videos.
But the biggest change, perhaps involves some core Zune functionality: Microsoft is killing “sending and receiving messages, inviting friends, sharing the songs, playlists, and albums you are listening to, and viewing past play history.” These features were part of what was called Zune Social."
http://www.winsupers...zune-features-144140Oh, I'm sorry MS Music people, you just got hosed *twice* in a decade. Let's call it a 5 year Arc.
What Apple apparently figured out that MS didn't, (and see the Linux on Desktop themes), is that *five years is too short for a full brand lifecycle.*
If you want users to be "loyal" to your brand, you can't just rip parts of "their life" away every five years. It makes cautious/lazy/jaded-cynical late-adopters like me look smart. And I'm not all that smart, not like you guys.
So now their big music brand is Xbox-music or something. Okay, Clock starts say about 2011. (Give me a year for not bothering to get swept up in early hype.) Cue 2015, they'll have something else.
I don't have time for that $hit. (Front loaded hyped sales PR machine and all.)