Apple main man Steve Jobs has dismissed the threat to the iPod of Microsoft's forthcoming Zune, claiming that the device poses no real danger to Apple's market dominance. When Jobs recently chatted with Newsweek's Steven Levy, and was asked whether he was worried about the community building abilities of the Zune, he said: "In a word, no."
Jobs claims to have seen Zune demonstrations where the device was used to find another person and then to give them a song they can play three times. He claims that the technology performed slowly and poorly, and that the device will be frustrating to use.
"I've seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you've gone through all that, the girl's got up and left! You're much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear."
Due to launch on November 14, the Zune will set you back $249.99 for a 30GB, 3-inch screened model. It offers WMA, MP3, AAC, JPEG, WMV, MPEG-4, H.264 media playback, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) connectivity, FM Radio, TV output at 640x480, Podcast support, updateable firmware and an estimated 12 hr battery life for audio.