In Bangladesh, the numbers of music lover people are very high

Identification of the objectives and segmentation

Background of the product: In Bangladesh, the numbers of music lover people are very high.

Most of the people of this country love music and hear music regularly. For hearing music,

people like to use a portable music player than a CD or DVD player. Because most of the

people like to hear music when they are spending their leisure time. For that they usually

want to use a music player which is small and plays music in a great sound quality.

Marketing manager of Microsoft Company in south Asia and going to bring our new music

player in Bangladesh. The name of our music player is Zune (Appendix-1). It has 30 GB hard

disk which stores up to 7,500 songs, 25000 pictures or video files of 100 hours. Its weight is

only 5.6 ounces. Its screen size is 3.0 inches and its screen resolution is 320 x 240 pixels.

Zune is available in 5 colors. It comes with stylish head phones, USB cable and software and

travel pack. The upcoming Zune is available with 80GB hard disk and wireless earphones.

a) Background of company: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an

American multinational computer technology corporation with 79,000 employees in

102 countries and global annual revenue of US $51.12 billion as of 2007. It

develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of software products for

computing devices. Founded in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft is the

biggest software publisher for personal and business computing in the world.

Since its inception Microsoft has quickly expanded into all computer-related sectors

with products ranging from omnipresent apps like Windows, Microsoft Word and

Excel to popular games like MechWarrior, Age of Empires and Flight Simulator.

With the March 2000 announcement of the Xbox, Microsoft also took on the likes of

Sony, Nintendo and Sega in the console hardware and software business.

Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best selling products are the

Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity

software. These products have prominent positions in the desktop computer market;

with market share estimates as high as 90% or more as of 2003 for Microsoft Office

and 2006 for Microsoft Windows, in line with Bill Gates' vision "to get a workstation

running our software onto every desk and eventually in every home". The company

also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and home

entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV. Known for

what is generally described as a developer-centric business culture, Microsoft has

historically given customer support over Usenet newsgroups and the World Wide

Web, and awards Microsoft MVP status to volunteers who are deemed helpful in

assisting the company's customers. The company's official website is one of the most

visited on the Internet, receiving more than 2.4 million unique page views per day

according to Alexa.com, who ranked the site 18th amongst all websites for traffic

rank on September 12, 2007.

Marketing Aims and Objectives: Our aim is to provide the customers with the best music

player in a short time.

Objectives: To fulfill this aim, we have to complete these objectives;

1. Maximizing sales and profits.

2. Becoming a well known name for music players.

3. Gaining the market share.

4. Get complains from customers regularly.

5. Introducing new technologies.

6. Mass advertising in media.

7. Charitable works such as Aids Awareness.

C). Market segmentation: With the help of our primary research, we have segmented our

main market by geographically demographically, phychographically.They are:

Geographic segmentation

Country Bangladesh

City Dhaka

Area of Dhaka city 815.85KM2

Area’s from Dhaka city Gulsan, Banani, Mohammadpur,

Dhanmondi, Wari, Motijheel

After our primary research we have found that most of our customers are from Gulsan,

Banani, and Dhanmondi. We also found that some customers are from Wari, Mohammadpur

and Motijheel who wants to buy Zune as a music player. We also surveyed in other locations

of Dhaka city like Luxmibazar, Sutrapur, Lalbug, but we got les response from those places.

(Primary research)

Demographic Segmentation

Age 18 – 30

Gender Both male and female

Income 18000 - above

Occupation Students, Businessmen, Others

Religion Muslim, Hindu, others

We have found that most of our customers are aged 18 to 30. Both male and female

customers want to buy our product. Their income level starts from 18000 and above. Among

the people, we have found most are students and some are businessmen. There are some

customers who are employees and musician also. We also found that, musician would like to

buy our product for its extra facilities.......... (See Zune vs. iPod in secondary research).

Muslim, Hindu and people from other religions are also our customers. (Primary research

Psychographic Segmentation

Social Class Middles, lower uppers, upper uppers

Life style Hip hop, Achievers

As our product is not a potential product and its price level is high, social class of our

customers are middles, lower uppers and upper uppers. We also found that our customers

who lead a hip hop life are more willing to buy our product. (Primary research)

Target market: After completing our market researches and market segmentation, we have

find out that our main target market is the people aged between 18 to 30 and who are mainly

students and lead a hip hop life. On the other side people from other occupation such as

musician and businessmen aged 26 to 40 are also interested in our product. So we can

consider them as our secondary target market.

Assessment Evidence –B

Primary and secondary research

a) Primary research: For primary research, we have surveyed over 40 people by some

questionnaire. These questionnaires were used to identify our target market, size of

market and competition. The results of our survey are given below ** (only product

relevant questions without the personal information’s. The full questionnaire are

given in Appendix-1):

1. Do you hear music?

Yes-40, No-00

2. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you

will buy?

Apple (pod)-26, Sony-8, Microlab-4, Others-2

3. If Microsoft company launch a music player, will you buy it?

Yes-38, No-02

4. How much storage you want on that music device?

30GB- 24, 60GB- 12, 80GB-4

5. In which color you will like to see our product?

Red-8, Pink-8, Brown-12, White-6, Black-6

6. At which price you like to buy our music player?

10000-12000= 12, 12000-14000= 26, More than 16000=02

7. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player?

Yes- 24, No- 16

8. From which place you want to buy the music player?

From main office-6, from authorized dealers- 14, from a shopping mall-20

9. If you want to buy it from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you will

buy?

Bashundhara city- 26, Eastern Plaza- 8, IDB-6

*(The number indicates the number of people)

From other personal questions we have found out 65% of our customers is male and 35% are

female. Among them 75% are Muslim and 25% are Hindu, among them 14 – 18 years are

10%, 18 – 22 years are 15%, 22 – 26 years are 30%, 26 – 30 years are 20% and 30 – 40 are

25%. Among them 55% customers are students, 35% customers are businessmen and 10%

are others. Among them 30% lives in Wari and Motijhil, 30% lives in Gulsan, Banani,

Baridhara, 20% are from Mirpur and 20% are from Dhanmondi, Rampura and

Mohommodpur.

b) Secondary research: In secondary research section, I have included some researches

made by some websites and journals and media sources on Zune. They are given

below :

ABI Research Survey: 58% of pod Owners Planning Another MP3 Player Purchase

Will Consider Microsoft's Zune

NEW YORK - November 1, 2006

A new survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that many prospective MP3 player

buyers—even owners of iPods—would be likely to choose Microsoft's Zune player. 1725

teenage and adult US residents were asked whether they planned to buy an MP3 player in the

next 12 months. Of those responding that they were likely to do so, 58% of those identifying

themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they

would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an

iPod or another brand of MP3 player.

"Our conclusion," says principal analyst Steve Wilson "is that iPod users don't display the

same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple

products." Only 15% of iPod owners said they were "not very likely" or "not at all likely" to

choose Zune.

So is Zune attractive enough to build anything like pod’s massive sales record? ABI Research

believes that a critical factor will be whether or not Microsoft can differentiate the Zune from

competing products in some meaningful way. One differentiator, Zune's Wi-Fi peer-to-peer

sharing, which Microsoft is playing up heavily, "isn't all that compelling, at least not now,"

notes Wilson. "There's a lot more you could do with that capability."

(Methodology: data contained within this report is derived from a Web-based survey among a

nationally-balanced and demographically-representative sample of 1,725 online consumers

(age 18 and older). The consumer survey was conducted in October 2006. Respondents were

provided a photo and description of the Microsoft Zune device before being asked about their

likelihood to choose it over a competitive MP3 player)

Source:

ABI Research

By studying this primary research, we can clearly see that, what kind of market demand Zune

has among the peoples. Even people who are using iPods are ready to buy Zune. So, we can

say that people will like to buy Zune instead of iPods and other music player.

Media coverage for the Zune is given below…..

Five Phases Media Coverage: the Zune

 Friday, January 19, 2007

Fantasy: Microsoft announces

1. •nebulous plans to deliver an iPod Killer, revealing a new brand name but not

showing off any features.

2. •new DRM and wireless sharing features, without specifying how they would

work.

3. •the web goes wild with speculative stories of how it’s inevitable that

Microsoft will take over the iPod.

4. •pundits imagine a spectacular future of Zune development potential in 2007,

including a Zune phone.

 

Reality: Details slowly emerged that

 

1. •the Zune will break compatibility with Plays For Sure DRM and abandon

partner's music stores.

2. •the Zune will be a total reheating of an existing failure in the market: the

Toshiba Gigabeat S.

3. •the repackaging would copy the look of the iPod but its copycat click wheel

would really just be a round switch.

4. •a big new feature would be a slightly larger display of the same resolution as

the iPod.

5. •nobody could know the price, battery life, physical size, or other competitive

details in advance.

Zealotry: As things tilted downward, pundits fell all over themselves to suggest that

1.  

2. •Microsoft would give Zunes away with the Xbox and gobble up market share,

despite low Xbox sales.

3. •Microsoft would deeply discount the Zune to undercut the iPod via a rental

music subscription subsidy.

4. •Microsoft might stumble on launch, but would fix everything in a future

update around Zune version three.

5. •Previous Plays For Sure zealotry was eclipsed by the new gospel of the one

true Zune DRM.

 

Inevitability: As it turned out

 

1. •Zune hardware, as delivered, sucked: a clunky plastic box with a cheap

Tupperware lid.

2. •Zune software was buggy and problematic, more flash than substance.

3. •Promised features were a huge disappointment and entirely useless.

4. •Existing iPod features expected by users were lacking: Audible and pod cast

support, PDA functions, battery life.

 

Distractibility: Please pay no attention to what's actually going on, and focus on BS instead

 

1. •After sales completely tanked, Microsoft dumped a press release of a "goal' to

sell 1 million by June 2007.

2. •The press picks up "1 Million Zunes" as a news story, pretending that the

number is both impressive and likely.

3. •Microsoft starts talking about future Zune products, including an nebulous

"Zune phone."

4. •Little mention is made of the Zune's target price being higher than the iPod's,

and forced lower by Apple.

5. •The 30 GB Zune is repeatedly compared against the 80 GB iPod in size and

price, rather than the 30 GB iPod.

6. •Talk about the Zune is overshadowed by shrill grandstanding about non-facts:

7.

Steve Ballmer stating that the Zune has “25% of the market.”

8. Steve Ballmer stating that the iPhone was “the most expensive phone on the

market.”

9. Analysts aren’t concerned about Zune theft, but do fear of iPhone muggings.

Laptops are no threat however.

[Source:

www.raughlydrafted.com]

Here are the differences between Zune and iPod:

zune vs. ipod

zuneipod

(30GB Video Model)

Storage

Capacity30GB 30GB

Battery Life12/3.5 Hours

(music/video)

14/4 Hours

(music/video)

Screen Size 3.0” 2.5”

Screen

Resolution320x240 pixels 320x240 pixels

OS Support Windows & Mac Windows & Mac

Wi-Fi

ConnectivityYes 802.11g None

Built-in FM

TunerYes No

Dimensions 4.40” x 2.40” x .58” 4.1” x 2.4” x .43”

Weight .30 pounds .30 pounds

Wireless

earphones

Yes No

High

definition

sound

recorder

YES No

Source: E-

bays press release

With this research, we can see the major differences between Zune and iPod. The

screen resolution of Zune is bigger than iPod. Again, Zune supports the fastest file sharing

process” Wi-Fi”. With this connectivity, users can send and receive music and videos from

another Zune or from the net. Zune also have built in FM tuner. Now in Bangladesh

especially in Dhaka, FM is very popular among the people of all ages. IPod does not support

FM tuner. So, it is a great plus point for our product’s popularity. We can also see that, Zune

offers wireless earphones but iPod does not have that. It is also a great plus point for our

product because by primary research we have discovered that most of the people want to

have wireless earphones.

Here is an interview about the Zune

Interview with Scott Erickson about the Zune

Posted by Fabienne Serriere

This morning chance to speak with Scott Erickson, Senior Product Manager for the Microsoft

Zune. The Zune, in case you managed to escape the buzz, is a music and video playing

handheld device set to launch tomorrow.

Fabienne: The Zune has had such a big buzz on the internet, are there any sorts of

differences in the review models that will change with the production model of the device?

Scott Erickson: The devices we sent out for review are the same as those in stores tomorrow.

There were some misconceptions in the form of early screen shots that weren't actually from

the device.

Fabienne: Are you looking forward with relief to the launch tomorrow after such a long pre-

buzz?

Scott Erickson: No, not at all. [Laughing] Yes of course, it's going to be one of the largest

Microsoft product launches with 30,000 retail outlets including interactive kiosks at retailers.

We'll also have the Zune at music stores such as the Virgin Megastore.

Fabienne: What is your favorite part about the Zune -- in the interface, the hardware, or

elsewhere?

Scott Erickson: Wow that's a great question; no one has asked me that yet. The first thing

that came to mind was the brown model. The brown color is something people either dislike

or really take a shining to. It's an unusual color; I think it's really classy looking and no one

else is doing it. Also, the wireless sharing functionality is a great feature.

Fabienne: What exactly can you send with the wireless in the Zune?

Scott Erickson: You can send songs and pictures to another person with a Zune device in

range. In the future we may include sending to and from computers. The wireless function is

implemented in the Zune so we can easily add new functionality later.

Fabienne: When someone has a large collection of purchased music how will that media be

treated with respects to playing it on the Zune? In the same vein, how many devices will be

able to share music purchased from the Zune store?

Scott Erickson: When you install the Zune the software can search your computer for music

already digitized there. The Zune can play WMA, AAC, and MP3 music formats and WMV,

MP4 and H.264 video formats. Up to five computers can play the same purchased media and

an unlimited number of devices can play that music.

Fabienne: Wow, so you don't have a limit on the number of Zunes that sync per computer?

Scott Erickson: Well, up to 16 Zunes can connect to one computer, after that you can still

sync them but you'll have to do it with a manual sync. I can't imagine having that many Zunes

for each computer in a household, but if anyone wants to buy 16 that's great!

Fabienne: [laughing] well you never know, that could happen. We've heard what the experts

think about the Zune for the last few months with numerous product reviews. What do you

think the consumer reaction will be?

Scott Erickson: that the customers are the experts in this case. We've listened to what the

customers want: they want a more personal experience, a more social experience and we've

attempted to give them that with the Zune.

Fabienne: Thank you so much for your time today, and I wish you a pleasant launch

tomorrow.

Scott Erickson: pleasure.

Devising a marketing mix

The marketing Mix: The marketing mix of our product is given below:

Product: The name of our product is Zune. It is music player which can play MP3, WMA,

MP4, WAV and other formats of music.

Here are the full specifications of our product:

Zune

Capacity

30GB

Stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 100 hours of video.[1]

Colors

Brown

Black

White

Limited Edition: Pink and Red

Size and Weight

4.4 in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in. (h x w x d)

Weight: 5.6 ounces

Battery[2]

Music, up to 14 hours (wireless off), up to 13 hours (wireless on); pictures, up to 4

hours; video, up to 4 hours

Charge Time: 3 hours; 2 hours to 90%

FM Radio

Built in

Presets: 30

Display

Size: 3.0 inches

Orientation: Vertical and Horizontal

Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels

Audio

Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to

48-kHz sample rate

MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate

AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-

kHz sample rate

Pictures

JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480

at sync time)

Video

Windows Media Video (.wave): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak

video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up

to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video

bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec.

Video Output

Yes (composite-video)

EQ Presets

Acoustic, classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop and rock.

Wireless

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g

Range: Up to 30 feet

Share select tracks, play lists and pictures - Zune to Zune. [3]

Language

English

Included Accessories

Earphones

USB Cable

Sleeve

As we can see, our product will be available mainly in three colors- Brown, Black and White.

Pink and Red colors will also available in limited editions.

Our product will be packed in attractive plastic box so that our customers can keep the box

for a long time. The colors of our box will be similar with the product colors.

Price: After doing our researches and other relevant works, we have reached to the decision

that the price of our product will be 13000 taka. As we can see the other competitors are

present in the market and our price is similar to their price.

We have considered many terms to set it as our selling price. They are:

Profit Level: As we are a new company in an existing market, so we can not lower our price

than the other companies. We have to survive in the market if we want a good result in the

future. It also depends how much we want to have our gross profit.

Market place pricing: we have many competitors in the market and the strongest one is

selling their product in a high price. So to stay in the market we have decided this price.

Distributors’ margin: As our product has to pass a supply chain, each of that supply chain

will want to have a profit margin. So we have to consider that also.

We also have to pay duty and 15% tax on our product. That’s why we set our price level at

this.

Place: As we are importing the product from outside, we have to choose a proper place for

selling our product. As we have chosen direct selling, then our product will available in our

main office and at our dealers in the whole country. For customers choice we have decide to

have our main sales centre in Gulsan-2. And our product will also available through our

dealers in the whole country. Again customers can buy our product from shopping malls like

Bashundhara city, Eastern plaza, IDB and other Shopping malls. (Primary research)

Distribution Channels: As we are importing our product from outside Bangladesh, so our

product will be available first from manufacturer to the sales branch of our product in

Bangladesh. Then From the dealers wholesalers will get our product and then the retailers

and from the retailers customers will get our product. Again, customers can also buy our

product from dealers.

Promotions: Our product is new in the market, so if we want to launch it successfully, we

have to take some major steps.

Advertising: We have to advertise our product before 3 months our product arrives in the

market. As for advertisement media we have chosen these Medias:

Newspaper: As Newspaper has a great flexibility, timeliness and high believability, we have

chosen newspaper for our advertising. We have decided to give our advertisement in the most

popular newspaper of Bangladesh “Prothom Alo.” We will advertise in this newspaper before

two months of our products arrival in the market.

Television: As we know television has a good market coverage and combines sight, sound

and motion it will be very effective for our product’s advertisement. At first we have chosen

three channels of Bangladesh. They are BTV, NTV and Channel-i. And after launching our

product in the market, we will advertise in other channels.

Radio: In Bangladesh, there are two very popular radio stations. Most of the people of

Bangladesh like these radio stations and listen to them regularly. We have decided to

advertise our product through these radio channels; Radio Today and Radio Furti.

Magazines: Magazines are also a great media for our product’s advertisement. There are

many magazines in Bangladesh. As our product is IT related, first of all we have to advertise

our product in IT magazines. We have decided to give our product’s advertisement in

Technology Today and Computer World.

Online: We have also decided to give our advertisement in online. We have found that most

of the net users in Bangladesh use hi5, face book, choruibhati and polapain.com for

communications and other purposes. So we will advertise our products in these websites.

Again, our product will be also available in Click BD.com for sell.

Vehicles: We have decided to advertise our product through bus and taxi. It will be very

effective because these vehicles will travel in many areas of the city and almost every people

will see our advertisement at least one time.

Billboard: We will give our product’s advertisement in many billboards of the city. First we

have chosen some place where we will give our advertisement .These places are Dhanmondi,

Mohammadpur, Farmgate, Gulsan and Mohakhali. We will also give our advertisement on

over bridges and in the islands between the highways and roads.

Sales promotions: We will also use some sales promotions. They are given below:

Discount: We will offer our first 200 customers 6% discounts. Again the next 100 customers

will get 3% discount on the selling price.

Price pack: Our customers will get a price pack offer. If they buy our combination pack

which comes with a Zune, wireless earphones and a extra speaker they will get a great

discount than if they buy the speaker separately.

Advertising specialties: We will give our customers some gifts imprinted with our products

name. These gifts can be coffee mugs, Files, Pens, Key rings, T- shirts etc.

Sponsorship: Becoming sponsor of many events is one of the great media of promotions. As

our product is music player, we will arrange some music concerts. We have also decided to

sponsor the cricket team of Bangladesh. We will also arrange cultural programmes and

seminars.

Assessment Evidence –B

Primary and secondary research

c) Primary research: For primary research, we have surveyed over 40 people by some

questionnaire. These questionnaires were used to identify our target market, size of

market and competition. The results of our survey are given below ** (only product

relevant questions without the personal information’s. The full questionnaire are

given in Appendix-1):

10. Do you hear music?

Yes-40, No-00

11. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you

will buy?

Apple (iPod)-26, Sony-8, Microlab-4, Others-2

12. If Microsoft company launch a music player, will you buy it?

Yes-38, No-02

13. How much storage you want on that music device?

30GB- 24, 60GB- 12, 80GB-4

14. In which color you will like to see our product?

Red-8, Pink-8, Brown-12, White-6, Black-6

15. At which price you like to buy our music player?

10000-12000= 12, 12000-14000= 26, More than 16000=02

16. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player?

Yes- 24, No- 16

17. From which place you want to buy the music player?

From main office-6, from authorized dealers- 14, from a shopping mall-20

18. If you want to buy it from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you will

buy?

Bashundhara city- 26, Eastern Plaza- 8, IDB-6

*(The number indicates the number of people)

From other personal questions we have found out 65% of our customers is male

and 35% are female. Among them 75% are Muslim and 25% are Hindu, among them 14 – 18

years are 10%, 18 – 22 years are 15%, 22 – 26 years are 30%, 26 – 30 years are 20% and 30 –

40 are 25%. Among them 55% customers are students, 35% customers are businessmen and

10% are others. Among them 30% lives in Wari and Motijhil, 30% lives in Gulsan, Banani,

Baridhara, 20% are from Mirpur and 20% are from Dhanmondi, Rampura and

Mohommodpur.

d) Secondary research: In secondary research section, I have included some researches

made by some websites and journals and media sources on Zune. They are given

below :

ABI Research Survey: 58% of iPod Owners Planning Another MP3 Player Purchase

Will Consider Microsoft's Zune

NEW YORK - November 1, 2006

A new survey conducted by ABI Research has shown that many prospective MP3 player

buyers—even owners of iPods—would be likely to choose Microsoft's Zune player. 1725

teenage and adult US residents were asked whether they planned to buy an MP3 player in the

next 12 months. Of those responding that they were likely to do so, 58% of those identifying

themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they

would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an

iPod or another brand of MP3 player.

"Our conclusion," says principal analyst Steve Wilson "is that iPod users don't display the

same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple

products." Only 15% of iPod owners said they were "not very likely" or "not at all likely" to

choose Zune.

So is Zune attractive enough to build anything like iPod's massive sales record? ABI

Research believes that a critical factor will be whether or not Microsoft can differentiate the

Zune from competing products in some meaningful way. One differentiator, Zune's Wi-Fi

peer-to-peer sharing, which Microsoft is playing up heavily, "isn't all that compelling, at least

not now," notes Wilson. "There's a lot more you could do with that capability."

(Methodology: data contained within this report is derived from a Web-based survey among a

nationally-balanced and demographically-representative sample of 1,725 online consumers

(age 18 and older). The consumer survey was conducted in October 2006. Respondents were

provided a photo and description of the Microsoft Zune device before being asked about their

likelihood to choose it over a competitive MP3 player)

Source:

ABI Research

By studying this primary research, we can clearly see that, what kind of market demand Zune

has among the peoples. Even people who are using iPods are ready to buy Zune. So, we can

say that people will like to buy Zune instead of iPods and other music player.

Media coverage for the Zune is given below…..

Five Phases Media Coverage: the Zune

 Friday, January 19, 2007

Fantasy: Microsoft announces

 

5. •nebulous plans to deliver an iPod Killer, revealing a new brand name but not

showing off any features.

6. •new DRM and wireless sharing features, without specifying how they would

work.

7. •the web goes wild with speculative stories of how it’s inevitable that

Microsoft will take over the iPod.

8. •pundits imagine a spectacular future of Zune development potential in 2007,

including a Zune phone.

Reality: Details slowly emerged that

6. •the Zune will break compatibility with Plays For Sure DRM and abandon

partner's music stores.

7. •the Zune will be a total reheating of an existing failure in the market: the

Toshiba Gigabeat S.

8. •the repackaging would copy the look of the iPod but its copycat click wheel

would really just be a round switch.

9. •a big new feature would be a slightly larger display of the same resolution as

the iPod.

10. •nobody could know the price, battery life, physical size, or other competitive

details in advance.

Zealotry: As things tilted downward, pundits fell all over themselves to suggest that

6.  

7. •Microsoft would give Zunes away with the Xbox and gobble up market share,

despite low Xbox sales.

8. •Microsoft would deeply discount the Zune to undercut the iPod via a rental

music subscription subsidy.

9. •Microsoft might stumble on launch, but would fix everything in a future

update around Zune version three.

10. •Previous Plays For Sure zealotry was eclipsed by the new gospel of the one

true Zune DRM.

Inevitability: As it turned out

5. •Zune hardware, as delivered, sucked: a clunky plastic box with a cheap

Tupperware lid.

6. •Zune software was buggy and problematic, more flash than substance.

7. •Promised features were a huge disappointment and entirely useless.

8. •Existing iPod features expected by users were lacking: Audible and pod cast

support, PDA functions, battery life.

 

Distractibility: Please pay no attention to what's actually going on, and focus on BS instead

 

10. •After sales completely tanked, Microsoft dumped a press release of a "goal' to

sell 1 million by June 2007.

11. •The press picks up "1 Million Zunes" as a news story, pretending that the

number is both impressive and likely.

12. •Microsoft starts talking about future Zune products, including an nebulous

"Zune phone."

13. •Little mention is made of the Zune's target price being higher than the iPod's,

and forced lower by Apple.

14. •The 30 GB Zune is repeatedly compared against the 80 GB iPod in size and

price, rather than the 30 GB iPod.

15. •Talk about the Zune is overshadowed by shrill grandstanding about non-facts:

16.

Steve Ballmer stating that the Zune has “25% of the market.”

17. Steve Ballmer stating that the iPhone was “the most expensive phone on the

market.”

18. Analysts aren’t concerned about Zune theft, but do fear of iPhone muggings.

Laptops are no threat however.

[Source:

www.raughlydrafted.com]

Here are the differences between Zune and iPod:

Zune vs. ipod

zuneipod

(30GB Video Model)

Storage

Capacity30GB 30GB

Battery Life12/3.5 Hours

(music/video)

14/4 Hours

(music/video)

Screen Size 3.0” 2.5”

Screen

Resolution320x240 pixels 320x240 pixels

OS Support Windows & Mac Windows & Mac

Wi-Fi

ConnectivityYes 802.11g None

Built-in FM

TunerYes No

Dimensions 4.40” x 2.40” x .58” 4.1” x 2.4” x .43”

Weight .30 pounds .30 pounds

Wireless

earphones

Yes No

High YES No

definition

sound

recorder

Source: E-

bays press release

With this research, we can see the major differences between Zune and iPod. The

screen resolution of Zune is bigger than iPod. Again, Zune supports the fastest file sharing

process” Wi-Fi”. With this connectivity, users can send and receive music and videos from

another Zune or from the net. Zune also have built in FM tuner. Now in Bangladesh

especially in Dhaka, FM is very popular among the people of all ages. IPod does not support

FM tuner. So, it is a great plus point for our product’s popularity. We can also see that, Zune

offers wireless earphones but iPod does not have that. It is also a great plus point for our

product because by primary research we have discovered that most of the people want to

have wireless earphones.

Here is an interview about the Zune

Interview with Scott Erickson about the Zune

Posted by Fabienne Serriere

This morning I had a chance to speak with Scott Erickson, Senior Product Manager for the

Microsoft Zune. The Zune, in case you managed to escape the buzz, is a music and video

playing handheld device set to launch tomorrow.

Fabienne: The Zune has had such a big buzz on the internet, are there any sorts of

differences in the review models that will change with the production model of the device?

Scott Erickson: The devices we sent out for review are the same as those in stores tomorrow.

There were some misconceptions in the form of early screen shots that weren't actually from

the device.

Fabienne: Are you looking forward with relief to the launch tomorrow after such a long pre-

buzz?

Scott Erickson: No, not at all. [Laughing] Yes of course, it's going to be one of the largest

Microsoft product launches with 30,000 retail outlets including interactive kiosks at retailers.

We'll also have the Zune at music stores such as the Virgin Megastore.

Fabienne: What is your favorite part about the Zune -- in the interface, the hardware, or

elsewhere?

Scott Erickson: Wow that's a great question; no one has asked me that yet. The first thing

that came to mind was the brown model. The brown color is something people either dislike

or really take a shining to. It's an unusual color; think it's really classy looking and no one

else is doing it. Also, the wireless sharing functionality is a great feature.

Fabienne: What exactly can you send with the wireless in the Zune?

Scott Erickson: You can send songs and pictures to another person with a Zune device in

range. In the future we may include sending to and from computers. The wireless function is

implemented in the Zune so we can easily add new functionality later.

Fabienne: When someone has a large collection of purchased music how will that media be

treated with respects to playing it on the Zune? In the same vein, how many devices will be

able to share music purchased from the Zune store?

Scott Erickson: When you install the Zune the software can search your computer for music

already digitized there. The Zune can play WMA, AAC, and MP3 music formats and WMV,

MP4 and H.264 video formats. Up to five computers can play the same purchased media and

an unlimited number of devices can play that music.

Fabienne: Wow, so you don't have a limit on the number of Zunes that sync per computer?

Scott Erickson: Well, up to 16 Zunes can connect to one computer, after that you can still

sync them but you'll have to do it with a manual sync. I can't imagine having that many Zunes

for each computer in a household, but if anyone wants to buy 16 that's great!

Fabienne: [laughing] well you never know, that could happen. We've heard what the experts

think about the Zune for the last few months with numerous product reviews. What do you

think the consumer reaction will be?

Scott Erickson: think that the customers are the experts in this case. We've listened to what

the customers want: they want a more personal experience, a more social experience and

we've attempted to give them that with the Zune.

Fabienne: Thank you so much for your time today, and I wish you a pleasant launch

tomorrow.

Scott Erickson: My pleasure

Devising a marketing mix

The marketing Mix: The marketing mix of our product is given below:

Product: The name of our product is Zune. It is music player which can play MP3, WMA,

MP4, WAV and other formats of music.

Here are the full specifications of our product:

Zune

Capacity

30GB

Stores up to 7,500 songs, 25,000 pictures, or 100 hours of video.[1]

Colors

Brown

Black

White

Limited Edition: Pink and Red

Size and Weight

4.4 in. x 2.4 in. x 0.6 in. (h x w x d)

Weight: 5.6 ounces

Battery[2]

Music, up to 14 hours (wireless off), up to 13 hours (wireless on); pictures, up to 4

hours; video, up to 4 hours

Charge Time: 3 hours; 2 hours to 90%

FM Radio

Built in

Presets: 30

Display

Size: 3.0 inches

Orientation: Vertical and Horizontal

Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels

Audio

Windows Media® Audio Standard (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to

48-kHz sample rate

MP3 (.mp3): Up to 320 Kbps, CBR and VBR, up to 48-kHz sample rate

AAC (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov): Up to 320 Kbps, Low Complexity (LC), up to 48-

kHz sample rate

Pictures

JPEG (.jpg): All resolutions (desktop software will automatically convert to 640x480

at sync time)

Video

Windows Media Video (.wave): Main Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 1.5 Mbps peak

video bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., with Windows Media Audio up

to 192 Kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo audio; Simple Profile, CBR, up to 736 Kbps video

bitrates, 320 x 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec.

Video Output

Yes (composite-video)

EQ Presets

Acoustic, classical, electronic, hip-hop, jazz, pop and rock.

Wireless

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g

Range: Up to 30 feet

Share select tracks, play lists and pictures - Zune to Zune. [3]

Language

English

Included Accessories

Earphones

USB Cable

Sleeve

As we can see, our product will be available mainly in three colors- Brown, Black and White.

Pink and Red colors will also available in limited editions.

Our product will be packed in attractive plastic box so that our customers can keep the box

for a long time. The colors of our box will be similar with the product colors.

Price: After doing our researches and other relevant works, we have reached to the decision

that the price of our product will be 13000 taka. As we can see the other competitors are

present in the market and our price is similar to their price.

We have considered many terms to set it as our selling price. They are:

Profit Level: As we are a new company in an existing market, so we can not lower our price

than the other companies. We have to survive in the market if we want a good result in the

future. It also depends how much we want to have our gross profit.

Market place pricing: we have many competitors in the market and the strongest one is

selling their product in a high price. So to stay in the market we have decided this price.

Distributors’ margin: As our product has to pass a supply chain, each of that supply chain

will want to have a profit margin. So we have to consider that also.

We also have to pay duty and 15% tax on our product. That’s why we set our price level at

this.

Place: As we are importing the product from outside, we have to choose a proper place for

selling our product. As we have chosen direct selling, then our product will available in our

main office and at our dealers in the whole country. For customers choice we have decide to

have our main sales centre in Gulsan-2. And our product will also available through our

dealers in the whole country. Again customers can buy our product from shopping malls like

Bashundhara city, Eastern plaza, IDB and other Shopping malls. (Primary research)

Distribution Channels: As we are importing our product from outside Bangladesh, so our

product will be available first from manufacturer to the sales branch of our product in

Bangladesh. Then From the dealers wholesalers will get our product and then the retailers

and from the retailers customers will get our product. Again, customers can also buy our

product from dealers.

Promotions: Our product is new in the market, so if we want to launch it successfully, we

have to take some major steps.

Advertising: We have to advertise our product before 3 months our product arrives in the

market. As for advertisement media we have chosen these Medias:

Newspaper: As Newspaper has a great flexibility, timeliness and high believability, we have

chosen newspaper for our advertising. We have decided to give our advertisement in the most

popular newspaper of Bangladesh “Prothom Alo.” We will advertise in this newspaper before

two months of our products arrival in the market.

Television: As we know television has a good market coverage and combines sight, sound

and motion it will be very effective for our product’s advertisement. At first we have chosen

three channels of Bangladesh. They are BTV, NTV and Channel-i. And after launching our

product in the market, we will advertise in other channels.

Radio: In Bangladesh, there are two very popular radio stations. Most of the people of

Bangladesh like these radio stations and listen to them regularly. We have decided to

advertise our product through these radio channels; Radio Today and Radio Furti.

Magazines: Magazines are also a great media for our product’s advertisement. There are

many magazines in Bangladesh. As our product is IT related, first of all we have to advertise

our product in IT magazines. We have decided to give our product’s advertisement in

Technology Today and Computer World.

Online: We have also decided to give our advertisement in online. We have found that most

of the net users in Bangladesh use hi5 face book, choruibhati and polapain.com for

communications and other purposes. So we will advertise our products in these websites.

Again, our product will be also available in Click BD.com for sell.

Vehicles: We have decided to advertise our product through bus and taxi. It will be very

effective because these vehicles will travel in many areas of the city and almost every people

will see our advertisement at least one time.

Billboard: We will give our product’s advertisement in many billboards of the city. First we

have chosen some place where we will give our advertisement .These places are Dhanmondi,

Mohammadpur, Farmgate, Gulsan and Mohakhali. We will also give our advertisement on

over bridges and in the islands between the highways and roads.

Sales promotions: We will also use some sales promotions. They are given below:

Discount: We will offer our first 200 customers 6% discounts. Again the next 100 customers

will get 3% discount on the selling price.

Price pack: Our customers will get a price pack offer. If they buy our combination pack

which comes with a Zune, wireless earphones and a extra speaker they will get a great

discount than if they buy the speaker separately.

Advertising specialties: We will give our customers some gifts imprinted with our products

name. These gifts can be coffee mugs, Files, Pens, Key rings, T- shirts etc.

Sponsorship: Becoming sponsor of many events is one of the great media of promotions. As

our product is music player, we will arrange some music concerts. We have also decided to

sponsor the cricket team of Bangladesh. We will also arrange cultural programmes and

seminars.

Other factors influencing the marketing mix.

As we are new in this country, so the plan we have made may not work properly. We will

face many obstructs in our path of marketing. But as we have a strong brand name, we can

hope that our product may not face much problem. Again the constrains we may face are:

Financial constraints: We may face some financial crisis in this country in the initial period of

the business. One of major reason of this is the mentality of Bangladeshi people is different.

They wanted to get a good product is a low rate. As the price of our product is not very low,

our product may face this kind of problem. Another issue is taking high interest as tax. As we

have to pay 15% tax, it will be difficult for us in the first stage of our business.

Time: In order to market our product, we have to strictly maintain the time. We have to bring

the product in the market as we shown in our advertisements. Transportation is one of the

major obstruct in this. Again traffic jam will kill most of our valuable time. It will affect on

availability

Of our product in the market.

Skills and expertise of staffs: We may also face a lack of skilled staffs. As it is a huge and

new business, we cannot take the risk to recruit unskilled staffs. Again this will affect on

sales of our product.

Ethical standards: In Bangladesh, we don’t think that we will face ethical issues. Again we

decided to keep in mind about the religious issues.

Product availability: As our business is a import business, we may face unavailability of our

product in the market. This will affect on the market share and sales of our product.

Legal factors: We may not face any problem in legal factors. But for that we have to pay the

duty and tax to the government regularly. If we don’t do these properly, our business may

face a great problem.

Political factors: In Bangladesh we will face many political abstracts in selling our product.

We may face Hortal, strikes and many other problems. And the students of Universities are

also related in this so this will affect on our customers and sales of our product.

S.W.O.T analysis of our business:

BOSTON

CONSULTING

GROUP

APPROACH

As our product is

new in the market,

we will start our

business as cash

cow. And we will

get to the star stage.

STRENGTH

Very strong brand name.

Good financial situation.

Better quality of product.

WEAKNESS

A new product.

Less market share.

OPPORTUNITIES

Better product.

Good response from people.

THREAT Very strong competitor

High price

STAR QUESTION MARK

CASH COW DOG

Questionnaire

………………………………………

1. Gender: - Male Female

2. Age : - 14 – 18 years 22 – 26 years 30 – 40 years

18 – 22 years 26 – 30 years

4. Your occupation: - Student Employee Businessman Musician

Retired Worker

5. Your earnings in a month (In taka): - 12000 – 18000 18000 – 25000

25000 – 30000 More than 30000

6. In which area you live: - Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara Mohommodpur, Dhanmondi

Kollanpur, Mirpur Motijhil, Wari, Old Dhaka

7. Do you like/hear music? Yes No

8. If you want to buy a portable music player, which company’s music player you will buy?

Apple (iPod) Sony Micro lab Others

9. If Microsoft Corporations launch a music player, will you buy it?

Yes No

10. How much storage do you want on that music device?

30 GB 60 GB 80 GB

11. In which color will you like to see our product?

Red Pink Brown White Black

12. At which price you will like to buy our music player?

10000 – 12000 12000 – 14000 More than 16000

13. Would you like to have wireless earphones with the music player?

Yes No

14. From which place you will like to buy the music player?

From main office from authorized dealers from a shopping mall

15. If you want to buy from a shopping mall, from which shopping mall you would like to buy that?

Bashundhara City Eastern Plaza Computer city (IDB) Others

White Zune

Zune with wireless earphones

Zune VS iPod

Zune VS iPod graph