One day before Apple is expected to introduce new iPods at a special event in San Francisco ("The Beat Goes On"), Microsoft has announced that it is dropping the price of the 30GB Zune music player to $200. A posting to Microsoft’s Zune Insider blog reads "Some of you may have already heard, but tomorrow we’re dropping the suggested retail price for Zune to $199. It’s part of the normal product lifecycle, something we’ve had on the books for months. We just got some research back and customer satisfaction with the 30GB device is really high (around 94%) and we expect even more consumers will now want to discover the Zune experience at the new lower price."
The price drop comes shortly after Mindy Mount, the corporate vice president and CFO of Microsoft’s entertainment and device division, said that she grades the Zune a "B-" in its current state, noting that the player is doing well, saleswise, for "a product out in less than a year and a half," but that the company is still developing the brand and trying to expand its identity
Multiple sources claim that Apple’s "Beat Goes On" event should mark a radical departure from the company’s traditional line, claim multiple sources inside Taiwan electronics suppliers. The contacts allege that a premium iPod to be announced on September 5th will include a large touchscreen similar to that of the iPhone and will also include Wi-Fi for networking features while swapping the hard disk for "high storage capacity" NAND flash memory, the sources said.
