Friday, May 9, 2008
To Be Fair, Sales Figures Were Limited to Consumers Willing to Admit Owning a Zune
Was he inebriated? Do you even know anyone who owns a Zune?”
–-Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Microsoft’s claim that the Zune is now a worthy alternative to the iPod.
Despite its feature differentiations and, er, “distinctive” color palette, Microsoft’s (MSFT) Zune has yet to prove itself the iPod killer it was once touted as. Since its launch in November of 2006, the Zune has sold 2 million units. In comparison, Apple (AAPL) in its last quarter sold 10.6 million iPods–quintuple Microsoft’s cumulative sales to date. Zune’s market share in this space during the first quarter: 4%. Apple’s share: 71%.
Clearly, the only thing being killed by Microsoft’s iPod killer are Microsoft’s chances for unseating Apple in a market that would seem–according to relatively flat year-over-year iPod sales–to have peaked without it.
