Retailer GameStop has decided to stop selling Microsoft’s Zune media player. According to news reports, the decision was actually made about a month ago but was only recently made public.

A GameStop spokesperson told news media that the company decided to “exit the Zune category” considering it did not have the anticipated appeal and “did not fit with our product mix.”

Not ‘A Natural Fit’

GameStop primarily sells video games, which is why David Card, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said he wasn’t certain “it was a natural fit” anyway. But the chain has several hundred stores in the U.S. and many of its customers are fans of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video-game console, so the Zune could potentially have benefited from cross-marketing.

GameStop had been selling the device since October 2006, when it began taking preorders a month before Zune was launched. The retailer said it would sell its remaining Zune stock online.

Forrester’s James McQuivey agrees with

Card. Since Zune is not a gaming platform, he said, “it’s not a surprise that that attempt to distribute the Zune to its target audience would struggle.”

He added that that doesn’t necessarily sign the death certificate for the Zune. As lengthy as it continues to hit its “conservative sales goals,” he noted, “Microsoft will continue to look at the long-term benefits of having a competitor to the iPod in the market, even whether that competitor only has single-digit market share.”

About Two Million Sold

Microsoft didn’t express much concern. On Friday, it released a statement noting it has a “strong presence” with such major retailers as Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and others. Adam Sohn, Zune’s director of marketing, added that the Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft will “continue to invest in retail partnerships” and online stores.

Since its release in November 2006, Microsoft has reported selling about two million of the…

Orginal post by Top Tech News