An ex-Microsoft exec has spoken out about the company's Xbox success and relative Zune failings, saying part of the blame lies with the music industry.
Robbie Bach, who headed up Microsoft's entertainment division during the early days of Xbox and Zune, was speaking at the Northwest Entrepreneur Network event in Seattle.
Talking about how the Zune team tried to replicate the Xbox's success by working with retail and game publishing partners, Bach said, "It's not like we didn't try but — I don't know how to say this politely — the music industry just didn't get it."
The day the music died
"They just didn't figure out that being dependent on Apple was bad for them," he continued.
"And they were so hooked on the drug of what Apple was supplying them that they couldn't see past that to realize that they needed something else to actually drive their business.
"The label business, the music industry, has never recovered from that."
But he does admit that it wasn't all down to the music biz being unable to see past the big shiny iPod in front of them:
"The portable music market is gone and it was already leaving when we started.
"We just weren't brave enough, honestly, and we ended up chasing Apple with a product that actually wasn't a bad product, but it was still a chasing product, and there wasn't a reason for somebody to say, oh, I have to go out and get that thing."
From Geekwire
