Steve Ballmer didn't announce Zune won't be released in Europe. It was only a (wrong?) interpretation of the Wirtschafts Woche editors. Looking at the actual answer he gave, the meaning is quite different and he really doesn't say anything different than what we already knew: Ballmer never said Zune won't launch in Europe in 2007. Read the correct translation...
From ZuneInsider :
You are only selling Zune in the US. When will the device be launched in Europe?
Our primary goal was to get into market, offer some innovation and do some learning. The US is always an easy place to practice, because it is our home market. Over time, we will have various versions of Zune. And, it is obvious that we need to have new services, not just an internet music store. So far, we have lost money in this business because of our investments. That is why we decided not to enter new markets so far. It will only pay off after we have reached some of the goals outlined. When this will be the case, I cannot tell you today.
As you can see Ballmer only talks about the past decisions on Zune and not the future. Here is the original text from the interview in German:
Bis heute verkaufen Sie den Zune sowieso nur in den USA. Wann wird das Gerät in Europa erhältlich sein?
Unser primäres Ziel war es, in den Markt zu kommen, einige Innovationen anzubieten und zu lernen. Und die USA sind dafür schlichtweg ein guter Markt, weil er unser heimisches Terrain ist. Im Lauf der Zeit werden wir verschiedene Zune-Versionen haben. Und es ist klar, dass wir neue Dienste brauchen, nicht nur einen Internet-Musikshop. Bisher verlieren wir in dem Geschäft Geld, weil wir investieren müssen. Daher haben wir uns entschieden, noch nicht in neue Märkte zu gehen. Das lohnt sich erst, wenn wir mehrere der skizzierten Ziele erreicht haben. Wann das der Fall sein wird, kann ich heute nicht sagen.
The problem was in the presentation of the interview were it clearly stated that Zune won't be released in Europe in this fall. So what we now know after reading Ballmer's interview about Zune is ... nothing more than what we already knew. This could mean Zune is coming to Europe as expected.
This is the second time in a few days a Microsoft executive says something and we read something different about Zune. The first was with Robbie Bach announcing Microsoft is on track to sell 1 million Zunes by June . The editors also got that wrong and wrote 1 million Zunes have been already sold.
The part of the interview were Ballmer talks about Zune . (Google translation to English ).
The intro article of the interview . (Google translation to English ).
Related articles:
Ballmer: No Zune for Europe in 2007 (the wrong announcement)