Microsoft Entertainment head Robbie Bach revealed on Monday that the company has sold a little over a million of the portable media player Zune by late May, surpassing its target to sell 1 million Zune digital media players by the middle of 2007.
In December last year, Bryan Lee, former corporate vice president of Microsoft's entertainment group, predicted the million-unit target for June. But, the company has already passed the million mark, Bach said.
"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 San Francisco Chronicle newspaper as saying.
Although, the one-million figure appears very small compared to its arch rival Apple iPod’s more than 100 million units that have been sold by the Mac/iPod maker so far, but Redmond mammoth seems pretty satisfied with Zune's sales.
It took the iPod nearly two years to reach the one-million milestone, while Zune hit the mark in merely nine months. But, in fairness, Apple launched the iPod in a time when people were taking the portable MP3 casually and there were few competitors in the market, while Microsoft launched Zune in a booming market and, in this perspective, the sale of one million units doesn’t look that “awesome” anymore.
Launched on November 14, 2006, Zune features a 30GB memory capacity, wi-fi capability, larger screens and built-in FM radio. It can also transfer songs to another Zune using a wireless technology feature, and is priced at $249.99.
iPod was launched five and half years ago in the year 2001, since then, there has not been a looking back for Apple Inc., and has continued to introduce ten different iPod models to date. This includes five series of iPod, two series of iPod nano, two series of iPod mini and two generations of iPod shuffle. The first iPod had a storage capacity of 5GB initially, which over the years, has developed and grown to proffer a tremendous capacity of 80GB.
The Cupertino, California based Apple sold 10.55 million iPods during the three months ending March 31, and on April 9th of this year it announced the sale of its 100 Millionth iPod, marking another first in the arena of Digital Music.
In January this year, Market research firm Current Analysis had released results on how Microsoft's digital music player Zune had fared in the market. According to the research results, Apple accounted for 64 per cent of digital audio devices sold during the period, Sandisk for 22 per cent and Microsoft for 3 per cent.
Despite the better-than-expected sales Zune still lags far behind Apple’s revolutionary iPod in the United States. Microsoft's portable digital player managed to capture about 10 percent of the U.S. market for hard-drive-based MP3 players in December, while iPod grabbed 85 percent of the market.
Unlike its rival iPod, the Zune media player weighs heavier, lacks podcast support and has shorter battery life; possible reasons for its sliding sales performance.
Microsoft plans to focus on adding features to Zune Marketplace to stay ahead in competition with Apple.
Researchers have reported on the growing market of MP3 players in the US. A whopping $1.5 billion in 2005 to $10.7 billion by 2010 is the expected revenue for the online music market.
So far, Zune has not been a serious threat for the iPod, but it will certainly make iPod maker cautious.
Zune hot in June
by Bithika Khargarhia - May 29, 2007 - 0 comments
Microsoft Zune hit the 1 million mark well before its targetted time, Microsoft Entertainment Head, Robbie Bach, revealed here today. The company had sold a little over a million of the portable digital media player Zune by late May, surpassing its target to sell a million Zunes by the middle of 2007.
This target has been announced by Bryan Lee, former corporate vice president of Microsoft's entertainment group, in December last year. According to Bach,
"It's a good start. It's not an overwhelming start. I'm not going to pretend it's some gigantic move," when he spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.
The one-million figure, however, appears very small as compared to arch rival Apple iPod’s stake of more than 100 million units sold till now by the Mac/iPod maker.
It took the iPod nearly two years to reach the one-million milestone, while Zune hit the mark in merely nine months. But, in all fairness, Apple launched the iPod at a time when people were taking the portable MP3 casually and there were virtually no competitors in the market, while Microsoft launched Zune in a booming market. Taken form this this perspective, the sale of one million units doesn’t look that “awesome” anymore.
Launched on November 14, 2006, Zune features a 30GB memory capacity, wi-fi capability, larger screens and built-in FM radio. It can also transfer songs to another Zune using a wireless technology feature, and is priced at $249.99.
iPod was launched five and half years ago in 2001, since then, there has been no looking back for Apple Inc., who have continued to introduce ten different iPod models to date. These include five series of iPod, two series of iPod nano, two series of iPod mini and two generations of iPod shuffle. The first iPod had a storage capacity of 5GB initially, which over the years, has developed and grown to a whopping 80GB capacity.
The Cupertino, California based Apple had sold 10.55 million iPods during the three months of 2007 ending March 31, and on April 9th of this year they had announced the sale of the 100 Millionth iPod, marking yet another first in the arena of Digital Music.
In January this year, the market research firm, Current Analysis, released results on how Microsoft's digital music player Zune, had fared in the market. According to them, Apple accounted for 64 per cent of digital audio devices sold during the period, Sandisk for 22 per cent and Microsoft for 3 per cent.
Thus, despite the better-than-expected sales it has shown, Zune still lags far behind Apple’s revolutionary iPod in the United States. Microsoft's portable digital player managed to capture about 10 percent of the U.S. market for hard-drive-based MP3 players in December 2006, while iPod grabbed 85 percent of the market.
Unlike its rival iPod, the Zune media player is heavier, lacks podcast support and has shorter battery life; possible reasons for its sliding sales performance.
Microsoft plans to focus on adding features to the Zune's marketability to continuously try and stay ahead in its competition with Apple.
Researchers have reported on the growing market of MP3 players in the US which meteored from $1.5 billion in 2005 to the present state and is expected to touch $10.7 billion by 2010.
So far, Zune has may not have posed aby serious threat to the iPod, but it will certainly make the iPod maker cautious.
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