Zune.net Traffic

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/12/27/zune-traffic-roars-itunes-yawns' target='_blank'>http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/12/27/zune-traffic-roars-itunes-yawns</a><br /><br /></div><em>&quot;Microsoft's Zune 80 proved a big hit among holiday shoppers, and that demand translated into a massive increase in the traffic Zune.net normally receives. On Christmas Day, people opened their new Zunes and them promptly opened a connection to Zune.net, Microsoft's online home for the media player. That traffic added up fast. Analysis firm Hitwise said the Zune fervor resulted in huge jumps in visits to Zune.net. Compared to Christmas Day in 2006, Hitwise said Zune traffic rose 299 percent, nearly quadruple for the day year-over-year. From Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, Zune.net visits leaped by 392 percent. As a certain big-screen movie villain might say, &quot;Impressive. Most impressive.&quot; But the numbers for Zune only tell part of the story. While these are nice results for Microsoft, they pale in comparison to Apple's iTunes marketplace.&quot;</em><br /><br />The article goes on to say that the iTunes traffic on Christmas day was six timers higher than Zune.net traffic - but you know what? That's not half bad when you factor in how many more iPods were likely sold this holiday season versus the number of Zunes sold. I'll be really interested in seeing what the sales numbers look like for December when they get tallied. I doubt the Zune is much more than a dent in the iPod's market share, but every little step counts.

[randalllewis]

I agree that this news is pretty good for the Zune. Microsoft has said its goal for the Zune for 2008 was the be the solid number 2 player and they appear poised at this time to be able to achieve that. Marketing will be key, as will improvements to the Zune Marketplace such as getting the Warner DRM free tracks and video. Ongoing tweaks to the Zune firmware will also help and new colors and packages. Cmon Microsoft, you know how to do this stuff. Let's see you execute.

Update: while doing errands today, I was near some Zune retailers in the Puget Sound area and thought I'd check out the supply. Two Targets, a Circuit City, Toys R Us, Office Depot, and a Best Buy later here are my findings: None of the stores had the 80 or the 30. Toys R Us was out of all Zunes except one pink 8 that was labeled "limited edition." The Targets each had two or three 4 and 8 units. Best Buy had 1 8 unit. Office Depot had no units at all. Circuit City had a pair of 8s and 1 4. All of these stores had nice point of sale displays for the Zune, and there were plenty of accessories in each location, just very few Zunes. I have yet to see numbers on what Microsoft manufactured of the various units, but it is clear they had a sell out or near sell out in this area. Given the information in the post about web traffic, it appers this was a good season. This next information can't be used for comparisons, but I did note that all of the stores above had plenty of iPods and Sensas and Zens on hand.