Zune sales start to flag already
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006
According to the Financial Times, Microsoft’s attempt to enter the iPod market faltered before the product even left the starting line. And now sales are starting to flag according to observers.
The report quotes analysts saying that the device from Microsoft will need a series of tweaks if it is to gain a foothold in the personal digital audio player market. The report even says that there will be announcements of newer versions of the device early in the New Year.
When first launched two weeks ago, Zune was heralded as the number two digital audio devices in the first week, accounting for 9 percent of the MP3 player market, though it was a distant second place behind the market leader, Apple’s iPod with 63 percent according to market research group NPD.
But the interest has faded rapidly according to observers, with Zune now falling far behind even the SanDisk or Creative MP3 players on Amazon.com – which is often used as the ‘bell weather’ for gadget sales.
The FT quotes Mr McGuire at Gartner as saying “Somewhere around version three, they [always] get it right. But I’m not sure they have that sort of time, given the speed of iPod product development.”
Analysts think Microsoft should update the current software and firmware by CES in January and push out a new product in early spring.
It’s early days for Zune – the handheld media market has been a spotty play for Microsoft, many forget that this is already the company’s third attempt at the market. At the same time Apple has managed to innovate at breathtaking speed – for Microsoft to get up to, or ahead of the curve will be a difficult task.
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