Zune tops million mark, again
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Blog: During Microsoft's July 19th 2007 earnings report, it was announced that sales of Zunes met their predicted goal of one million.
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(InfoWorld) - Financial analysts watching the consumer electronics space report that early sales of Microsoft Corp.'s Zune player should give little reason for iPod loyalists and Apple Computer Inc. to fear this holiday season. Since its retail debut on Nov. 15, customer interest in Zune has been lackluster, analysts report. Early reviews of the product have been less than stellar as well. According to a research note published Tuesday by PiperJaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster, only 8 percent of 40 retailers surveyed by the firm recommend the Zune to customers, while 75 percent recommend Apple's iPod. Moreover, some MP3 salespeople hadn't even heard of Zune, even though the players are being sold at their stores, he wrote in his report. Quotes from retail clerks cited in Munster's report range from them claiming they don't know what the Zune is, to comments that Zune is a good option if a customer does not use Apple's iTunes software. "To be honest, I don't really know much about the Zune," one clerk is quoted as saying in Munster's report. Another said, "I don't suggest the Zune because it is really heavy," according to the report. Zune also did not fair well against other MP3 players and Apple's iPod even during its initial week of sales, when the hype surrounding the product was at its peak. According to Munster's report, during its launch week on Nov. 16, Zune held the seventh spot on online retailer Amazon.com's top 10 best-selling MP3 players list, and it fell from that spot to 13 on the list only five days after launch, on Nov. 20. "The buzz that Microsoft was able to generate for the Zune's launch clearly helped the player in its first week, but much of the publicity took the form of Zune/iPod comparisons," Munster wrote. He added that these comparisons show that Zune "failed to match up in the eyes of most reviewers" to the iPod, a fact that negatively affected sales of the device. Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore wrote Monday that the iPod continues to be a strong seller going into the busy holiday shopping season, and the 30G-byte video iPods -- with which Zune competes -- "appear to be immune to the Zune." He said both the 30G-byte video iPods and the new 4G-byte iPods nanos currently are popular with consumers. A note about Apple's performance from financial firm UBS IT hardware analyst Ben Reitzes also said that Zune does not appear to be any threat to iPod at this time. To be fair, Apple has a five-year head start in the music and video player market, and no one expected Microsoft's first entry would be comparable right away to the immensely popular iPod. Microsoft has said it plans to invest significantly in the Zune over the next several years, and the device is expected to become more competitive. Microsoft's 30G-byte Zune costs US$249.99, the same as Apple's video iPod, but is different from the iPod in two key ways. Zune includes an FM tuner and wireless capability that allows users to share songs between devices.
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Troy Wolverton reports for the San Jose Mercury News, âMicrosoftâs Zune had a decent debut last month, but Apple Computerâs iPods continued to dominate the MP3 market, according to new data from market research firm NPD Group released this week.â
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again - with a tech rival Thursday, unveiling MSN Music to challenge Apple Computer&#39;s dominant iTunes Music Store. MSN Music debuted with 500,000
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Microsoft now says the San Francisco Chronicle misquoted Entertainment and Devices president Robbie Bach, and explains that while it is still on track to sell one million Zunes by the end of June, it hasn't done so just yet.
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Microsoft's answer to the iPod, the Zune player, will cost $249.99 and is slated to ship Nov. 14.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has beaten itsÂ goal of shipping over a million Zune digital music players by June, according to a newspaper report. Robbie Bach, the president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, said it has already passed the million mark during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle published Monday. The Zune has a 10 percent market share in the hard-disk-based music player category, he added. "It's a good start. It's not an overwhelming start. I'm not going to pretend it's some gigantic move," he was quoted by the newspaper as saying. The million unit figure bests Apple. It took the iPod 14 months to reach 600,000 shipments, but it was much earlier in the game than the Zune, when the market for digital music players wasn't so hot. Apple has likely sold around 25 million iPods over the same time it has taken the Zune to reach its goal, according to financial analysts. Microsoft has a lot more work to do with the Zune. Despite a better-than-expected start, it's far behind the iPod both in terms of number of users and popularity. Apple sold 10.55 million iPods during the three months ending March 31 and announced it had sold its 100 millionth on April 9 of this year. The company has also generated enthusiasm for the device through more than 4,000 accessories made for the iPod, including stereo hookups in more than 70 percent of 2007-model U.S. cars and a deal with Nike to use iPods with certain running shoes that collect workout information. The company also has its new iPhone coming out soon, a product Bach indicated Microsoft will not compete against directly with a Zune phone, according to the Chronicle report. Microsoft will continue to work with handset makers to provide software used in different styles of mobile phones, because mobiles are deeply personal devices, he said. "In the phone space, we're very comfortable with the model we've chosen....We work with handset manufacturers and operators to produce that web of offerings while still producing the same consistent software so people can get done what they need to get done regardless of which phone they choose," he reportedly said. The San Francisco Chronicle article can be found on the WebÂ here.
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The guys who brought you the Zune have come up with a cool new machine. Really.
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Tune for tune Microsoft is to retail Zune, its first digital music player, at the same price as feature-equivalent iPods.â¦
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Are the devices in this picture interesting enough to make you buy a Zune instead of an iPod?
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Microsoft has predicted it will sell 1 million Zune devices in its first six months, a figure that would be more than Zune&#8217;s chief rival iPod sold in its first 14 months but a relatively slow start for the much-hyped MP3 device.
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Microsoft plans to release its Zune music player on Nov. 14 in the U.S., just ahead of the holiday gift-buying rush.
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Microsoft's Zune will have to work very hard to unseat the dominance of Apple's iPod and iTunes say industry experts.
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Software giant Microsoft unveiled a &quot;Zune&quot; MP3 player and online store to challenge Apple Computer's internationally popular iPod-iTunes personal entertainment duo.
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What Universal does with digital royalties Column How much can artists expect to benefit from Microsoft's Zune MP3 player?â¦
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One of the first things Microsoft did when launching the Zune was get rid of the two-year-old MSN Music download service. That doesn't bode well for Yahoo Music.
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Microsoft Corp.  sees expanding  the digital music market -- and not necessarily video -- as the  priority for its new "Zune" portable media player, a company  executive said on Thursday.