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All posts tagged "marketshare"


Wednesday, February 6, 2008

How Well Are The New Zunes Selling?

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Zune Talk" @ 07:00 PM

The new Zunes have been on the market now for a few months - so how well are they selling? We don't know for sure, because no one has released any market share reports. Yesterday, the Zune 80 was #95 on Amazon's Top 100 Electronic list, and today it's not listed. On the Amazon MP3 Player list, things look a bit more in context - the Zune 80 is #25, the black Zune 30 is #28, the brown Zune is #36, and the black Zune 8 is #42. That's below every type of iPod (not surprising) but also below the SanDisk Sansa Clip, the Creative Zen (it's worth noting it's heavily discounted - only $89.99 for the 4 GB model), and a few other brands.

When the first generation Zune came out, the prevailing wisdom at the time (amongst us Zune fans at least) said that because Flash memory-based players out-sold hard drive-based players, once there was a Flash-based Zune, it would do some serious numbers compared to its spinning magnetic platter counterpart. Yet most signs seem to indicate otherwise, if the Amazon sales charts are to be believed. I wonder, when the first market research report comes in, how well will the second generation Zunes have done against not only the iPod, but also against the numbers that the first-generation Zune did? We'll have to wait and see..


Wednesday, May 9, 2007

David Caulton Gives Insight Into NPD Numbers

Posted by Aaron Roma in "Zune Talk" @ 05:51 AM

http://www.zunester.com/2007/04/phd-in-npd.html

"Their goal is to get all of the major retailers in the US to share their sales figures each month. So when you hear sales numbers from NPD, they’re actually the sales figures provided to NPD by the actual retailers – not some consumer survey, not a sample, but the real thing. I’ve spent a lot of time swimming in NPD data for the last few years, and in my experience where I’ve been able to compare sales figures from npd per retailer with actual sales figures, they turn out to be scarily accurate."

David Caulton, aka Zunester, gives a little background information on the NPD "market share" statistics we keep seeing thrown around. David is a Zune team member, and specializes in industry analysis. In particular, David fills us in on what retailers are, and are not included in NPD's numbers. Contrary to popular belief, David asserts that indeed Apples' online and retail sales figures are included by NPD. Check out his article for all the details.

Tags: marketshare, npd

Friday, March 30, 2007

Five Ways to Make the Zune a Success

Posted by Damion Chaplin in "Zune Talk" @ 12:00 PM

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014838&pageNumber=1

"Five months after its introduction, industry experts give Microsoft Corp.'s Zune media player barely passing grades in terms of its marketplace success while Microsoft insists the device is on course... So far, Microsoft has failed in one of their market goals -- to take market share from Apple Inc.'s iPods, Rubin and Chen agreed. Rather, it has taken sales away from smaller vendors, most notably Creative Labs, which previously was in second place behind Apple... To put the hurt on iPod, Microsoft must deal with some serious issues, the analysts agreed. Here are five steps they said Microsoft must take to get itself into the game."

An interesting article over at Computerworld listing five thing that Microsoft should do if they want to ensure the Zune's success. I won't list the five things here (you'll have to read the article ;-) ), but I agree with every one or them (though I think the last one should really be two different items). What things do you think Microsoft needs to do with the Zune in order to make it truly competitive? Personally I think if they just made sure the Zune could do everything the iPod does that would be a giant step in the right direction.


Friday, December 29, 2006

Zune's Long Road Ahead

Posted by Aaron Roma in "Zune Talk" @ 01:30 PM

http://www.internetnews.com/storage/article.php/3650651

"If history is any indication, and so far the Zune appears to be following the same path as the Xbox when it launched five years ago, Microsoft is in for a long fight... But that's exactly what Microsoft said it expects -- a slow start. "We entered this market absolutely conscious that this is not a sprint, it's a marathon. We are fully, fully aware it will take some time to have sales numbers that iPod has," said Scott Erickson, senior director of product management for the Zune."

This article does a nice job of summarizing up what most of us have known for a while. All this talk about Zune's sales figures and market share from this holiday season mean exactly zip in the long run. Zune wasn't about taking over the market this Christmas, or even this next year. The project is a long term project, and we've only just seen the tip of the iceberg.

Tags: marketshare

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Zune Hurt iPod... A Little

Posted by Aaron Roma in "Zune Talk" @ 10:00 AM

http://www.gizmocafe.com/blogs/gizmo_cafe_blog/archive/2006/12/19/100961.aspx

"In November of 2005, only Creative existed to challenge Apple’s throne atop the hard drive digital music player market. At that time, the iPod line owned 86% of US sales, with Creative coming in a (very) distant second at 7%. This year, after a generally slow start, the Zune has further eroded the iPod’s dominance. Although Cupertino execs are unlikely to fret just yet, the iPod’s HD share is now 82%, with the Zune and Creative HD coming in at 9% and 4% respectively."

With the introduction of Zune this holiday season, Apple's iPod has at least suffered a little flesh wound. iPod's market dominance of Hard Drive based players has dropped 4% over last year, with Zune replacing Creative as a very distant second. Personally I think next holiday season should be much more telling for the future of the market. By that time Microsoft should have Zune's feature set more rounded out, and hopefully beefed up the product line, and Apple might have a return volley for Zune.


Thursday, November 30, 2006

Zune Getting a Bad Rap?

Posted by Darius Wey in "Zune Talk" @ 03:00 AM

http://blog.wired.com/music/2006/11/dvd_jon_agrees_.html

"The Microsoft Zune doesn't let you use the Creative Commons license or play stuff from the iTunes store, the pricing system for purchasing music by the song is a little weird, and its chassis isn't quite as tough as I'd thought initially. But after using the Zune for two weeks and a day and being pretty satisfied with its design, features, and performance, I can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading about it. People really seem to have a problem with this thing -- especially the brown model."

Wired makes a good point about the Zune. Despite all of its shortcomings (and I admit that there are a lot of them), it isn't as bad as some people make it out to be. There's no doubt that it's playing a game of catch-up and it has a long way to go before it eats into Apple's marketshare, but the iPod needs a few tweaks here and there if it's to stay solid in the long run. Both devices aren't perfect. It's a battlefield out there, and may the best one win.


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