Welcome to the Social, rest of the world!

After nearly 3 years, the Zune will be available outside the USA and Canada this year. This is still an unconfirmed news (nothing official from Microsoft yet) but ever since it’s launch on November 2006, there has been clamor from many consumers outside North America and their eagerness to get their hands on a Zune device, even if there is no support whatsoever in their own country.

In the Philippines, basing on our Zune User Group (ZUG), we have 61 live users of Zune, and obviously there are more zune users not listed, just look at how many Filipinos are on Zune Social (though some may have downloaded the software without buying a zune device).

I also noticed that some of the well-known zune sites/blogs are not even based on the USA! meaning there are zune followers around the globe, even without support! that is how good the device is! I have read of people having to replace their iPods twice in just a year of use, imagine if Apple does not have warranty/support in the Philippines.

This is good news for us zune owners and zune owners to-be. With the introduction of the Zune brand internationally will enable us to access the marketplace easier (it’s possible right now), find and buy accessories and get local support.

“After doing some digging, we can confirm that the release this fall will be international . While we were not able to get a list of countries that the Zune will ship to, we can confirm that it will be shipping to: Australia, China, and Europe. A company representative told me that there will be far more countries that the Zune will be shipping to.”

[via Neowin.net]