Zune Grabs 10% Market Share – New Models Coming Soon?

Retail research firm NPD Group report that for December, Zune represented 10.2% of all units sold. These numbers are for the 30Gb Hard-disk based MP3 players only. The Zune market share is well below if you look at the MP3 market as one category. For 45 days of sales since the introduction of the Zune, this is no bad at all. That growth is also in line with Microsoft's expectations of exceeding 1 million units in sales by June 30.

A Flash Zune or a 60Gb or 80Gb Zune model would help a lot the sales of Zune players and would add credibility to the Zune brand. We should see those models appear in the short terms but no one can tell when at this point. We would have expected a new model at CES but it was probably a good thing for the Zune not to release a new Zune product that would have been lost in the iPhone smoke still going almost two weeks after the announcement. Microsoft shouldn’t wait until June though because the iPhone “mega-smoke extravaganza” will hit the market again and will take all the media’s limited attention span.

The end of February would be a sweet spot for the Zune and give the new model three months to get a grip on the market before the iPhone Circus goes wild again.

Don’t take me wrong, I don’t think that the iPhone is really competing with the Zune, they are two completed different devices aimed for different market. But the media can’t handle two hypes at the same time and on this one, the iPhone is going to win.

One last thing, are we going to see a touchscreen iPod before of after the iPhone's launch?

Comments

[Tom]

We won't see a new touchscreen iPod until Fall. Apple will get everyone locked into an iPhone contract, then release a sweet touchscreen iPod based on multi-touch interface. I'm guessing we will see the multi-touch iPod in Sept-Oct.

[Me!]

Hey, now Zune has 80-90% of the "30GB ONLY market" because iPods are only made in 80 & 120 (or is it 160) GB sizes! GREAT NEWS!

Theres MORE: Of 30 GB Hard Drive Players with FM & wi-fi (the "Sharing 3 Song only for 3 plays or 3 days ONLY market") The Zune has 99% Market Share (it is assumed that Toshiba Gigabeats have the other 1%.

BEST OF ALL: In the "30-GB-Hard Drive based-MP3 Player-compatible with Zune Marketplace-with 'Squirting' wi-fi sharing-With 'Microsoft Zune' as their name-ONLY" market, Zune has 100%!!!!!! CONGRATS!!!!