The sudden demand for the iPod iTouch may be due to a promotion when students purchase a new Mac, they receive a free iTouch. There is talk that Apple may need to reposition the iPod Touch by this September now that the iPhone price is lower.
Apple’s iPod sales are better than expected. Data shows that iPod sales climbing by two percent through early June. The overall market grew 12 percent in the same period, which was led by Microsoft’s Zune.
Just how many Zunes/iPods were under the Christmas tree could be somewhat judged by the increase in traffic that the Zune and iTunes website received on Christmas Day.
The Zune site jumped up 392 percent Christmas Day compared to Christmas Eve. The site also showed a 299 percent increase in traffic from last year. The large increase over the year before does much to reflect the positive impact the new Zunes have had on the market vs the widely criticized first release just before Christmas in 2006.
Apple continued to dominate however, with iTunes getting six times the traffic that the Zune music site got. iTunes jumped 339 percent from Christmas Eve to Christmas day, less of a jump than the Zune site but Hitwise reported that the iTunes website market share was .68 percent while the Zune website market share was just .009 percent.
The Apple store was also a huge hit on Christmas Day jumping 169% over last year.
Black Friday was full of surprises and the one that no even thought to expect was: The Zune beat out the iPod in top selling online products. That’s right folks, in fact, the iPod didn’t even make it to the top ten!
This is the list:
1. Nintendo Wii Console
2. Microsoft Zune 30GB Media Player - Brown
3. TomTom ONE 3rd Edition GPS
4. Activision Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock Bundle
5. Canon PowerShot SD1000 Silver Digital Camera
6. Microsoft Office 2004 Student and Teacher
7. Western Digital My Book Essential Edition External 500GB Hard Drive
8. Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS
9. Canon PowerShot SD750 Digital Camera
10. Canon EOS Regel XTi Black SLR Digital Camera
Speculators over the surprise second best selling Zune have said that it is in part due to the extremely low price of the first 30GB Zune which has been selling below $100 (old price $249), the new upgrades to the Zune which the old Zune can get free, and the new look and feel of the new Zunes. The old and new Zunes were both selling at about the same rate for the holiday weekend.
The new Zunes are here, and they are receiving mostly flattering reviews, especially when compared to last years much hyped but deflated release.
The new Zunes are reportedly a much smoother, nicer model than the first try. The new rounded-octagon shaped click wheels are able to be used by simple touch as well as clicking. This gives users the best of both worlds. Either simply fan your finger over the wheel or click it, whatever way you prefer. Both ways allow you to scroll vertically and horizontally through lists smoothly.
Colors have been added to the new Zunes which now come in red, olive green, pink and black in the 4 and 8GB models . The 80GB model only comes in black. They are also lighter and sleeker than their predecessor. While still not as thin as the 3G nano, they are definitely a step up from the “brown” Zune.
The name the Zune is still not enough to get hearts a trembling the same as when someone says the 3G Nano, but nevertheless, Microsoft has money, time and the will to keep chipping away at the iPod dominance.
On Tuesday, November 13, two new Zunes will be rolled out onto the Marketplace with hipper styling, colors other than “brown”and some new features. By itself the new Zunes may not have enough to impact their place in the iPod world but combined with ever greater software and a new social website they stand more of a chance.
The website will feature a “Zune Card” or an online profile that will display the users image, current playing song, background and bio. Similar to MySpace one can add comments onto friends profiles as well as recommend music to one another. The music will be playable via your friends on their PC in 30 second tracks. The “Zune Cards” can also be tagged onto other social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
Dancing with the pink bunnies, and swimming with the jelly fish… This is the dreamland of the new Zune ads. Ads which have dropped the ambiguous “welcome to the social”, a tagline that only works if there is a social.
The new ads promoting the new Zunes are tagged “You Make It You”. The ads are supposed to be a series of video animated worlds that showcases the many Zune features including that of music, podcasts, radio and pictures.
To me it seemed like Alice entering Wonderland filled with Energizer bunnies and some good psychedelics.
The new Zunes may not have too much effect on the iPod world but they could definitely have an effect on Carmella Lyman’s, the SanDisk PR spokesperson.
She has promised ZDNet writer, David Berlind, that she would shave her head if the Zune took over SanDisks coveted number two spot behind the iPod. Provided, of course, if she wins Robbie Bach, president of the Zune division at Microsoft, shaves his.
She is probably pretty safe in that currently the Zune is number four in the MP3 marketplace with only three percent. SanDisk in second place has ten percent.
Robbie Bach, pledged second place by the end of Christmas saying, “When we’re done with the holiday, people will look and say, ‘There’s Apple and there’s Microsoft.’ The reality of the numerics are that Apple will still be No. 1.”
Bach has until the 31st to accept Lyman’s challenge.
Microsoft has showcased their new Zunes for the holiday season and while they are not likely to change anyone’s mind from buying one of the new iPods, they are a definite step up in the Zune revolution.
There are three new Zune players - a 4Gb and 8Gb flash-based model and a 80GB hard drive model.
The 4Gb and 8GB Zunes have a 1.8 inch screen, on which video, photos, TV and music lists can be viewed. Colors come in black, red, green and pink. They retail for $149 and $199.
The 80GB model comes in black only with a 3.2 inch screen. It retails for $249.
All the new models come with a new “Zune pad” which replaces the click wheel with a new touch sensitive pad. Basically you can flick or click. They are also smaller, thinner and less clunky than their predecessor. They also have built in FM tuners.
The new Zunes will be announced tomorrow, October 2nd, in Redmond at a Microsoft held event.
There is expected to be a couple of new Zunes being released, with flash-based memory. One is reported to look a lot like the iPod nano, similar to the old Zune design, but smaller measuring 3-inches by 1.25 inches.
The new Zunes are expected to support video and possibly Wi-Fi, with larger storage capabilities than their competition.
Bill Gates will be at the announcement along with his Design and Development Chief, J Allard. Gates and Allard are expected to talk on the Zune’s long term commitment to being part of the MP3 world, and also to give details of the new Zune community site which will launch in beta soon.
Microsoft is reportedly manufacturing 2.4 million Zune 2’s for the holiday season. Currently Microsoft sells one Zune to ever 25 or so iPods sold.
Not quite getting the same amount of fanfare as the new iPod’s announcement, the Zune 2 looks ready to rumble on October 16th.
The launch date was announced by Zune Scene, (not confirmed by Microsoft), who also says the photo on the right is the real new Zune 2’s.
The new Zunes are supposed to come in the pink, red, and black shown in the picture and also in an army jeep green color. Sizes are supposedly a 4GB, 8GB, and 80Gb. The round click wheel will be replaced in the new Zunes with a “squircle” - a square with circular edges.
There may also be new music feature that would push music to your Zune. Say if you liked David Gray and a new David Gray album was released with a promo song it could be updated to your Zune for the promo, in the same way that Microsoft updates windows. (Either cool or like a lot of spam you have to delete.)
Just how many Zunes/iPods were under the Christmas tree could be somewhat judged by the increase in traffic that the Zune and iTunes website received on Christmas Day.
The new Zunes are reportedly a much smoother, nicer model than the first try. The new rounded-octagon shaped click wheels are able to be used by simple touch as well as clicking. This gives users the best of both worlds. Either simply fan your finger over the wheel or click it, whatever way you prefer. Both ways allow you to scroll vertically and horizontally through lists smoothly.
The new Zunes may not have too much effect on the iPod world but they could definitely have an effect on Carmella Lyman’s, the SanDisk PR spokesperson.
There are three new Zune players - a 4Gb and 8Gb flash-based model and a 80GB hard drive model.
There is expected to be a couple of new Zunes being released, with flash-based memory. One is reported to look a lot like the iPod nano, similar to the old Zune design, but smaller measuring 3-inches by 1.25 inches.
Not quite getting the same amount of fanfare as the new iPod’s announcement, the Zune 2 looks ready to rumble on October 16th.
