By now the secret is out of the bag: Microsoft first sought to conquer bloggers, from the elite at Gizmodo and Engadget to the smaller bloggers out there, hoping that by winning over the early adopters and buzz builders, it would create a spillover effect onto mainstream media.  Of course, it also tried to influence bloggers by censoring those who would not be positive.

Did the overall strategy succeed?

Well, while MSFT states that it will sell 1M Zune units by June, 2006, which is not too bad by many reports, the fact is that as the fifth digital music player - trailing Apple, Sandisk, Creative - it surely missed the target - of giving Apple a run for its money - by a mile.

Rumor is that not only did MSFT unleashed a charm offensive with bloggers, but it also failed to court the traditional (online and offline) press as much as it should.

Case in point, an eternity after the thump felt on the blogosphere, mainstream media starts its Zune coverage (or so it feels).  Today I come across Fortune’s Zune vs. iPod head-to-head.  Fortune is good at getting a lot of online-intended articles up very quickly.  Why is this up on its main page [only] now?  Is that Fortune’s fault or rather, Microsoft’s?

Is this a case of too little too late?  Maybe.  But much like it did with operating softwares, productivity systems and the all-encompassing Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft gets credit for showing up to a party late and being the last to stand; or at least amongst the last standing.

• Digg this Blog
• Share on Facebook
• WatchMojo on Twitter
• WatchMojo on YouTube
• Add to Favorites
• WatchMojo Newsletter