Vancouver Apple Store on the way

For those of you in Canada, get ready for another free t-shirt! Another Apple Store is on the way! "The Mayor" over at Mactropolis.com fills us in:

Ah, all my good friends in Vancouver must be happy happy that they’re getting their first Apple Store. The new store is scheduled to open this Saturday, May 24th. W00t! For you Vancouver-ites, Vancouverians? (nevermind) the store address is 701 West Georgia Street in the Pacific Centre Mall. On the 24th, the store will open at 10AM and close at 7PM. Sundays will be 11AM to 6PM, Mondays and Tuesdays will be 10AM to 7PM, and Wednesday through Friday will be 10AM to 9PM. Congratulations to everyone out in Vancouver. I’m sure it’s going to be a great new store. That is a great location at any rate, have been there many times.

Is/Was Microsoft Ever Serious With The Zune?

Via engadget comes word of a shocking development in the mp3 player world. Microsoft is bringing the Zune to Canada. More than a year after its release in America, the Zune is headed north.

This news came as I surprise to me, as I had assumed Microsoft's "iPod killer" was already available everywhere. After all, if you had more cash in the bank than any other computer company, (Apple's gaining fast though) an installed userbase of your operating system in the hundreds of millions, and you wanted to obliterate Apple, wouldn't you at least make your product widely available? You would, unless you're really not that serious.

It seems like the Zune has done more harm to marketshare of iPod competitors, than the iPod itself. Where Microsoft's "Plays for Sure" plan was aimed at creating an army of tech companies to take on Apple, it seems now Microsoft is content to cannibalize those partners' sales. This is the Zune we're talking about. It would be one thing if it were a revolutionary device, like the iPhone. Something like that can take time, and can require a slow roll-out to get it right. But to have the most engineers, the most money, and the most PC marketshare, and to still take 18 months to get your product to Canada? Clearly someone's not really trying.