Friday 2 February 2007, 3:31 PM
Zune gone
Bryan Lee (the executive, not the blues singer) has left Microsoft. People leave Microsoft all the time, but Lee is following Jim Allchin in waiting for their product to be launched before bailing out. Allchin was in charge of Vista, and you can see how that might have taken it out of a chap, but Lee was in charge of the Zune's commercial connections with the record companies. He's the guy who made sure Universal (and only Universal) got a kickback per unit sold, who presumably gave the nod to the three-times-and-its-dead copying restriction, who... yeah, I'd want to spend more time with my family after dealing with that mob. Also a week in the shower.
The PR is spinning wildy - Lee's departure is a huge vote of confidence in the product, which is absolutely performing to expectations. All part of a three year plan, so don't expect too much at at once. Meanwhile, Zuneland is awash - oh, ok, slightly damp - with rumour of Flash-based Nano or Shuffle-alikes, of European launches brought forward, of screens cracking under hot battery pressure, of... of... no, that's it.
Given that the launch was in November and it's now February, that makes roughly one event (or rumour) per month. Do try and keep up!
The PR is spinning wildy - Lee's departure is a huge vote of confidence in the product, which is absolutely performing to expectations. All part of a three year plan, so don't expect too much at at once. Meanwhile, Zuneland is awash - oh, ok, slightly damp - with rumour of Flash-based Nano or Shuffle-alikes, of European launches brought forward, of screens cracking under hot battery pressure, of... of... no, that's it.
Given that the launch was in November and it's now February, that makes roughly one event (or rumour) per month. Do try and keep up!


