Microsoft Zune Dropped From GameStop

The move by GameStop represents yet another strike against the Microsoft Zune, which has consistently failed to challenge the Apple iPod's monopoly on the portable music player market. Since it launched the Zune in 2006, Microsoft has attempted to grab portable music player marketshare from Apple, with tactics such as introducing its own online video store, The Zune Marketplace, in 2007.

But consumers don't seem to be responding. Microsoft has only sold 2 million Zunes since the Microsoft Zune's release in 2006, while Apple sold 10.6 million iPods in the first quarter of 2008. And, due to insufficient demand for the Microsoft Zune, GameStop has already pulled the Microsoft Zune from its retail stores. GameStop will continue to sell the Microsoft Zune through its Web site, but only until the current stock is exhausted.

"We have decided to exit the Zune category because it just did not have the appeal we had anticipated," a GameStop spokesperson told TheStreet.com. "It (also) did not fit with our product mix."