Chicago (IL) – Microsoft has reached its goal to sell one million Zunes by June of this year, according to a newspaper report.

 

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Microsoft Zune in detail ...

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Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division, confirmed in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that the company has cleared the million mark. While he said that “a little over a million Zunes” translate into a 10% market share in the category of hard-disk-based digital audio players, Bach conceded that it wasn’t quite an “overwhelming” start: “I'm not going to pretend it's some gigantic move,” he told the Chronicle.

However, Microsoft did reach its initial goal outlined last December by former VP Bryan Lee. At the time, Lee considered one million Zunes within a nine-month timeframe as potentially “awesome”. Compared to its rival, Apple’s iPod, Zune in fact appears to have done reasonably well: It took the iPod nearly two years to reach the one-million milestone. But, in fairness, the iPod launched in a time (2001) when the portable MP3 player was a toy for geeks and the market opportunity was hardly more than a niche.    

 

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Overview: Apple's iPods since 2001 ...

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Microsoft, on the other side, launched Zune in a booming market and, in this perspective, a million sold devices suddenly do not look that “awesome” anymore. Zune has been in the market for 193 days (November 14, 2006 to May 25, 2007) in the U.S. market – which translates into about 5200 Zunes sold per day. About 30,000 stores in the U.S. are currently selling the player, which means that, on average, each store sold about 33 Zunes during this 193 day period – or one Zune every six days.

Apple, in comparison, is estimated to have sold between 22 and 25 million iPods between November 2006 and May 2007. Apple does not break out numbers for flash-based and hard drive-based iPods, which means that this number includes the entry-level iPod Shuffle, the mainstream iPod nano and the video iPod. However, on this basis, Apple sells between 115,000 and 130,000 iPods per day. Apple recently said that it has sold more than 100 million iPods since 2001.

So far, Zune has not been a serious threat for the iPod.

Ha-ha!...

May 29, 2007 01:03     

Ha-ha!
Josh report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

oh please

May 29, 2007 01:35     

Microsoft's sales figures of a million Zunes are probably as accurate as the 40 million Vista's they 'sold'. Maybe they shipped a million of them to those 30000 stores, but a million onto the market? Yeah right. Pull the other one.
chris report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Don't forget that the iPod was initially only compa...

May 29, 2007 05:37     

Don't forget that the iPod was initially only compatible with Mac computers, restricting it to approx. 5% of the computer using market. In that context, Zunes effort looks absolutely pathetic.
BBBaz report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

You just wait

May 29, 2007 05:57     

Microsoft's Xbox wasn't the bees knees for a while either, they learned from their mistakes on the first iteration, and now they have the dominant console on the market. Microsoft may just never get Software right, but they aren't slouches on the hardware side of things. Look out for Zune 2, I'm betting it's going to be worth the money this time around.
Revrant report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

1M Zunes? So what?

May 29, 2007 07:11     

OK, so what? The Zune is now discounted very heavily. The iPods are not discounted, but are suffering from the pent-up demand of the iPhone and wide-screen iPods, which are coming very soon. Let's see how fast 1M of these models are sold. It surely won't take 193 days. Also, some advice for Microsoft. When your executives say that this isn't a great device publically, who do they believe will be stupid enough to purchase it?

David report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

FM tuner

May 29, 2007 08:51     

At least it has an FM tuner ;) Would rather see the next version have FM, Music, Video and Bluetooth for wireless head phones
poot report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Replay to Revrany.

May 29, 2007 09:34     

The Wii is actually beating the 360 in sales and the PS3 is losing to Gameboy Advance sales!
Belgolas report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Ummm...

May 29, 2007 09:39     

"About 30,000 stores in the U.S. are currently selling the player, which means that, on average, each store sold about 33 Zunes during this 193 day period – or one Zune every six days." Yeah that's pretty pathetic.
James report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Mhm

May 29, 2007 10:42     

Probably due to the PS3 being a piece of useless junk there Belgolas, I suspect the Wii and the X360 will tie up soon. James, it's still got share, so no, it isn't that pathetic, one million isn't terrible at all for a completely new, untested entry into this market.
Revrant report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

again, this is shipped not sold....

May 29, 2007 10:43     

I believe the report was mentioning that 1 million had been shipped to retailers. Out of those, how many are actually sold to consumers is anyone's guess. But technically, MSFT can say 1 million sold because they sold them to retailers. It's a little misleading. Having said that, in its current form and online music store, the Zune is as good as dead. Maybe version 2 might be better but then apple isn't asleep at the wheel either.

Rob report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

well - we all gotta start somewhere...

May 29, 2007 11:25     

well - we all gotta start somewhere
sonny report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

10% Market Share of what?

May 29, 2007 12:22     

If Apple is not breaking out their numbers, how does M$ know? Apple has sold 100 million pods in 6 years, thats over 15 million a year on average. I think the same person that added the Vista license (40 mil) did the math on this too!
Duane report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

To be honest

May 29, 2007 13:02     

This IS actually better than anybody thought it would do. Its still not that great, but considering the product, they did pretty well. Of course this doesn't mean that its not dead, but if M$ pulls of some magic, it has a chance at staying in the market.
gm0n3y report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Biased Much?

May 29, 2007 13:24     

Goodness, look at all the Fanboy drivel... six months, one million units, three months ahead of schedule. Thats all it is, who cares how many stores sold how many players in how many days? I don't care if you don't like microsoft, nor do I care if you hate apple. It's just a news story ladies, no need to get worked up about sticking to the man.
del report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Isn't competition healthy?

May 29, 2007 14:20     

Just for the record, I'd like to see the Zune become more of a challenge to Apple. They could use some serious competition in the market regardless of where it comes from. Just like everything else, it should spur innovation and lower prices. So assuming MS isn't padding the numbers, it's not a horrible start. Not earth-shaking, but not horrible.
thriftstoretee report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Microsoft fails to get "it" on so many levels...

May 29, 2007 14:26     

No company is perfect, but few seem to go out of their way to make things more complicated and convoluted the way Microsoft does. I'll admit a lot of other large companies fail from time to time ... like Adobe and even Apple, however Microsoft sets a sandard all their own. MS products do work for the most part and they seem to appeal to techies and geeks that like overly complicated systems ... or other people who have no choice because the vendors and/or support seem to like overly complicated systems... and MS is a very good marketing company and they do very well. That said, these 'home electronics' devices are not normally sold to the geeks... they are sold to people who simply want the device to work - easily and intuitively. They dont want a hassle and that is typically what MS brings. If you need esoteric features that are difficult to work - or dont work very well - like say most camera's on cell phones ... or FM tuners on MP3 players... or Digital Rights Manglement (DRM) - people wont buy it. I'm not gonna squirt any 3 days/3 plays songs at my friends. That's just not right. Sure its nice to stick it to the 'man' once in awhile.... it probably should happen more often. Mybe Microsoft will learn from its disasterous 'foreign' policy? KISS!

drx1 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Zune?

May 29, 2007 17:47     

Whats a zune ask here in my city nobody knows what it is, if they sold so many why can't i buy one here?. Been to every store not one in sight although there are tons of ipods, and sandisk players. Even they sales people at walmart here never heard of them....wonder where they got that sales figure?.
Ron report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Another pool for Microsoft's toe

May 29, 2007 19:09     

This is just another "feeler" for MS to find a market beyond Windows and Office. They always lag but never lead. The X-Box 360 could be their next big $ maker, if they could figure out how to make money from it! The water is cold here MS. Maybe you should check that web services pool again.
StinkyWeezilTeet report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Some angry people here!

May 29, 2007 19:25     

Wow, why all the negativity? I've got a Zune, works well for me and I'm extremely satisfied I didn't settle for an iPod. Both are quality products for the most part, but neither is perfect. My wife has the latest gen iPod, so I've had a decent chance to compare. No one can convince me one has any clear-cut dominance over the other. Both have their pros and cons. Your purchase should reflect how the pros and cons fit into your needs. To spout off blindly against Zune (or iPod) here just does not seem necessary.

Dan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

WOW! "over Zillion Munes is a lot". -E. Litella

May 29, 2007 21:11     

But what the hell is a Mune good for?
Emily Litella report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Difference

May 30, 2007 09:43     

Isn't iPod available in every country while Zune only in the US?
Anonymous report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

FM Tuner is good to have!

May 30, 2007 10:49     

To tell you the truth I have a Creative Zen Mirco and my fm tuner works good.It doesn't work in some places but I enjoy listening to the radio and I can record it too so what's the big fuss?After a while I get tired of listening to my music.
Carina Nieves report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

too much izeal

May 30, 2007 11:17     

you "i tools" get a little bit defensive don't you? its an mp3 player! get over yourselves. I would probably buy an ipod if it weren't for you snotty little hipsters...
chrissy report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

This Article is wrong!

May 30, 2007 12:32     

Bach: When we finish our fiscal year in June we'll have sold a little over a million Zunes, so we feel very good about that. Here is the link: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/rumor-smashed/zune-has-not-sold-1-million-units-264171.php
Donny report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Microsoft rules the world already.

May 30, 2007 14:12     

Why can't you just admit it ?
Paul report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

HeY WaIt Guy's

Jun 08, 2007 12:53     

Let's see..... Zune as of it's first birthday will hopefully get the 2.1.4 update microsoft Surface will come out and the domintating right Now with APLLE TV "Video Marketplace" on xbox coming for Zune (So it looks like microsoft has been settimg up these things for the one SURFACE pc making it dominate over ipod because it's all WiFi -it reads the code on the back of your device-
ZaCh report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Zune 2

Jun 24, 2007 11:20     

Microsoft has a great position at this point and time. Since the Zune was designed by the XBOX team, I could really see a nice tie in with the XBOX 360 using the Market Place there to download and install new music. A lot of people own a XBOX and the people who don't might think about it. Sony does not have a music player tie in and Apple, doesn't have a Gaming Console. I have an iPod now and I went through a unexpected system crash. Apple wouldn't let me download my already paid for music. At least with XBOX Live, you can re-download all of your paid content in the event of a hard drive crash. So the message to Microsoft, if you haven't thought about it, here is the market pitch. Buy a XBOX 360 with Live and get safe music purchases that are Zune compatible!!

Andrew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0