Microsoft Zune… RIP

DVICE is reporting that the Microsoft Zune is dead.

A report from Bloomberg says that Microsoft has put the final nail in the Zune's coffin. The software giant will stop producing new Zune models and instead focus on repurposing the brand as a multimedia software service.

It's been two years since Microsoft last updated the Zune. The last update to the Zune hardware was in 2009 when the slimmer, sexier and robust Zune HD was released. Since then, the market's seen the iPod Touch dominate with apps led by cult-hit Angry Birds.

With no killer apps to put the Zune on a map of its own, it was only a matter of time before what could arguably be called the best iPod alternative, ran out of steam.

I tried to tell my wife that the Zune was dead and she said, "what's a Zune?" That's the most common reaction I get. Microsoft's answer to the iPod was ill-conceived, poorly marketed, and languished in near-death for far too long. Microsoft simply didn't cease production, this was a mercy killing.

Via DVICE