Almost three years after Microsoft’s iPod wanna-be hit the market, and on the eve of the third-gen Zune HD’s debut, there’s still no sign of the Zune hitting Aussie shores...
Hands up if you’re hanging out for a Zune. Keep ‘em up, we’re gonna count. Okay: one, two... errr... right, well, we’ve got bad news for
both of you.
Microsoft has reiterated that the shiny new Zune HD, which is set for US release this week, is not about to be released ‘down under’. Or indeed anywhere outside stateside, and that includes Canada (which only got the Zune in the middle of last year).
In an interview with
Ars Technica, an oddly unnamed Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the Zune HD would not be sold “north, south, east, or west of the US border... Microsoft is excluding every single country outside of the US, at least for now.”
“For the time being the Zune HD device will remain US-only” the spokesperson confirms, although he/she also reports “we are focused on deploying an exciting service in the form of Zune Video to 18 markets. We are looking at potential future hardware experiences for these markets, but do not have anything to announce right now.”
The Zune HD is Microsoft’s beefiest portable media player yet, with 16GB and 32GB capacities and Nvidia’s Tegra processor for handling 720p HD Video through a desktop docking station with HDMI output (although videos are scaled down to 480 x 272 pixels for playback on the Zune HD’s 3.3 inch touch screen).
It will also replace the current second-gen Zune models, which span from 4GB to 120GB, leaving Microsoft to focus all its efforts on a single model and form factor.