Despite the fact that Apple is expected to announce a new range of iPods on September 9th at a media event titled "Let's Rock", the web-community has this past week given a smidgen of attention to the other big-name portable media player; Microsoft's Zune.
In the past seven days, pictures of a yet-to-be-announced flagship 120GB Zune have made their way online, followed promptly by rumours of a Zune shake-up. According to various reports, the 120GB Zune will replace the existing 80GB model and be priced at the same $250.
In addition, Microsoft is thought to be killing off its smaller 4GB Zune, leaving its 8GB model as the only flash-based offering.
But is that all? A mild shuffle of its Zune product range will hardly be enough to increase lacklustre Zune sales. If Microsoft still has hopes of dethroning Apple's all-mighty iPod, it'll need something a little more drastic - and that could be a global roll-out of the device which is currently limited to the US and Canadian markets.
Since its launch in November 2006, nearly two years ago, the Zune has failed to make a significant dent in the iPods' market share. Back in June 2007, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer had stated that we could see a European release sometime in 2008. Various reports then claimed that the prospective launch date would be pushed back until 2009, and the only official comment from the Redmond-based giant is the usual "Microsoft does not comment on rumour or speculation."
Although Microsoft's Zune still has a small-but-faithful following, it's going to take something special from Microsoft to rejuvenate the Zune brand - and a European release could be just what the doctor ordered.
