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View Full Version : Zune Holds 9.9% of Hard Drive-Based Market for January


Jason Dunn
03-06-2007, 03:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/03/01/january-npd-numbers.aspx' target='_blank'>http://zuneinsider.com/archive/2007/03/01/january-npd-numbers.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;NPD numbers are out again, and in the harddrive MP3 player category, Zune has the number two spot, with 9.9% of the market in January. Also, the Zune Marketplace subscriptions user base grew by 60%, with individual ZMP downloads increasing by 65%. It's also worth noting that Zune is sold in more retail outlets than NPD currently reports on: for example, Amazon (which actually only accounts for a very small percentage of Zune sales), Wal-mart, the club stores - Costco and Sam's aren&rsquo;t reported by NPD, and some others. NPD also doesn't report on the Apple Stores, where Zune isn't sold, (obviously ;). So the actual market share might be different, but to report on the category, we&rsquo;ll stick with NPD.&quot;</em><br /><br />It's interesting to see that the Zune is holding onto the #2 spot for hard drive-based players, denying that nay-sayers the ability to say that the numbers from the first month were a fluke. 9.9% is a good number for a brand new product, but it also underscores the fact that the Zune needs to get a flash version out into the market because the real big numbers come with the sale of the Nano, Shuffle, all of Sandisk's products, and others. I wonder, how well can the Zune team execute in parallel? With some markets, such as Canada and the UK, expected to get the Zune later this year, is the Zune team focused on that or will we see the US market get its first flash-based player before other places in the world get their first Zune at all?

Alber1690
03-06-2007, 05:13 AM
They need to come out with a flash-based Zune model by this Christmas, or else all of the people I've been talking to about the Zune will just give up on waiting and like the rest of the crowd, go back the iPod world...Microsoft can't afford to lose the people that enthusiasts like us are trying to convince, but due the size everyone seems to be complaining about, refuse to purchase one.

Dyvim
03-06-2007, 02:15 PM
Yeah but they don't report data from Apple Stores which seems likely to be the place with the most sales of Zune's #1 competitor. So that suggests that the real value for Zune sales is significantly lower than 9.9%. I realize that they don't report other outlets as well, but you know that the amount of Zunes sold at Sam's, Costco, etc. is dwarfed by the # of iPods sold at Apples Stores (not to mention that Costco sells plenty of iPods too).

Jason Dunn
03-06-2007, 06:44 PM
I realize that they don't report other outlets as well, but you know that the amount of Zunes sold at Sam's, Costco, etc. is dwarfed by the # of iPods sold at Apples Stores (not to mention that Costco sells plenty of iPods too).

Really? Are there that many Apple stores in the USA - I thought there would be far more Costco's, Sam's Clubs, etc. combined then Apple stores.

[does a bit of research]

http://www.ifoapplestore.com/latest_financials.html

I didn't realize there were 170 Apple stores across the USA - that's a lot!

Ultimately like all statistics, it's hard to get a firm grasp on the reality of the situation until ALL parties involved cough up the right numbers.

David Tucker
03-07-2007, 06:32 AM
I would be surprised even with 170 stores if they made THAT much of an impact compared to Costco & such