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A Million Zunes Sold

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the zero-sold-to-anyone-i-know dept.

According to Robbie Bach, Microsoft's president of the Entertainment and Devices Division, Zune has already met the goal of 1.000.000 players sold, set at launch for the end of June. He also confirms that new Zune things will come in this fall, talks (not) about the Zune Phone, the new Watermelon Red Zune, the Zune Marketplace and of course Xbox 360.

29 of 424 comments (clear)

  1. but ... by eneville · · Score: 5, Insightful

    who bought these? i don't know anyone in the uk who has a zune.. for that matter i don't know anyone who has even SEEN a zune. did ms employees buy these at a knock-down rate?

    --
    Why UNIX?
    1. Re:but ... by tomstdenis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You realize that a million isn't much right in the grand scheme of populations right?

      In the UK, if a million were sold there you'd have a 1/54 chance [or so] of knowing someone who owned a Zune. In Canada, it'd be about 1/32 or so. And given that I don't regularly hang out with 32 peeps [assuming all were sold in Canada though...] it's not surprising me that I haven't seen one.

      Tom

      --
      Someday, I'll have a real sig.
    2. Re:but ... by unapersson · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Well that was pretty stupid of you. If you would've ripped the music in MP3 format you could listen to it on nearly anything. The only people that use Ogg Vorbis are open source fanatics."

      That's a pretty stupid thing to say. It sounds better than MP3 and its legal to play on my operating system of choice, it also works fine on my audio player of choice. All it shows is a limitation of the ipod. All that matters to me is that my collection of music is in the best format for me, I couldn't really give a toss that your favourite format is MP3. For me Ogg Vorbis was the sensible choice. Whatever happened to the concept of personal choice?

    3. Re:but ... by gsn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well that was pretty stupid of you. If you would've ripped the music in MP3 format you could listen to it on nearly anything. The only people that use Ogg Vorbis are open source fanatics.


      1) most iRiver and iAudio players support OGG out of the box, IIRC Archos too.
      2) yes open source fanatics use ogg vorbis. It is the principle of the thing. Many of the same open source fanatics can use rockbox as well and can play oggs on their iPods.
      3) whats stupid IMHO is the number of people who pay quite a bit for their iPods, and never use iTunes, which is the big iPod advantage. For the same dollar there are several DAPs out there with better (and more usable) features, arguably better interfaces that are way better value for money. Its basically because no one can match apple's ad budget.
      --
      Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
    4. Re:but ... by dirk · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As far as the Zune claims go, I don't buy it for a minute, any more than I buy the claim of 40m Vista licenses sold.

      I take the el to work in Chicago, and every day I see dozens of people with ipods. I've yet to see a single Zune in the wild, and at retail outlets like Microcenter or Target there always seems to be a crowd of people looking at the ipods on display while the Zune is simply ignored. I don't think I've ever even seen a working Zune on display -- they're always off or broken.

      Microsoft's numbers don't mean a thing. The numbers to look at are from retailers: How many Zunes have been sold at Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.? It's certainly not as high as Microsoft would have you believe. No matter what color they make it.
      So because you haven't seen one of a million Zunes sold in the world you don't buy it? Yes, you have seen iPods, because they have sold over 2 orders of magnitude more. They have sold a total of 100 million iPods (according to Apple), so of course you have seen an assload more of them. I have never seen an iPod video outside of a store, but I am willing to accept that they have sold a whole lot of them.

      As far as MS only selling a million Zunes in this time, that is exactly what they expected. They realized they were moving into a new market with a dominant force in it (Apple). They are trying to get their foot in the door, get their product known, and slowly increase sales. It is similar to what they did with the original XBox. They knew they wouldn't go in and take over the market. Instead they go in, take their lumps and slowly build a base and a better product.

      --

      "Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
    5. Re:but ... by nwbvt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well I don't know anyone who owns a John Deer tractor, does that mean all the ones that are sold are being bought by people working for the company?

      Sheesh, when will you people learn that your circle of friends and contacts are not at all representative of the population as a whole...

      And to be honest if you have never even seen a zune, that must mean you havn't set foot in an electronics store recently (assuming they are distributing them over there in the UK as heavily as they are over here in the colonies), which means you probably wouldn't know too many people that owns one.

      --
      Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
    6. Re:but ... by mrmoj0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, but I'm guessing you're no where near the target market for a John Deer tractor, whereas Slashdotters are clearly in the demographic for DAP purchases. If you were a farmer and could make the same claim, then you would have a stronger analogy.

      And I don't know that much about tractor brands, but would guess that John Deer is closer to the iPod of the market than the Zune. And if that comment kicks off a tractor fanboy battle on Slashdot, then my job is done.

  2. 10% of $product market... by patio11 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Riddle me this Slashdot: Why is it that when a product achieves ... ...10% of the MP3 player market, it is less than an also-ran. ...10% of the browser market, it is a signal that the world is changing. ...10% of the OS market, it is news that would rival the second coming of Christ.

    (Hey, put down that Troll mod -- part-time Linux-based programmer with an iPod here... Really.)

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    1. Re:10% of $product market... by Headcase88 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I like that point but I'm pretty sure Zune doesn't have 10% of the MP3 player market by a long shot.

      --
      "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
    2. Re:10% of $product market... by nanosquid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not the market that makes the difference, it's the company. In the past, Microsoft has been able to kill competitors simply by announcing a product, and if that wasn't enough, they'd follow it with billions in marketing and loss leaders. Microsoft wanted to make Zune a big success and they have failed; it's just another clunky Microsoft product that may or may not sell enough to break even eventually.

      OTOH, when other companies achieve 10% market share against a convicted but unrepentant monopolist with billions of dollars in his war chest and an army of lawyers, yes, that is big news.

    3. Re:10% of $product market... by moonbender · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yup, I was assuming the iPod has about a 10% market share, globally. It might be much higher in the US, but what about the rest of the world? I know a lot of people with iPods, but most casual users I know have opted for cheaper thumbstick-type players.

      --
      Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
    4. Re:10% of $product market... by RodgerDodger · · Score: 4, Insightful

      10% of the market = 10% of the units sold in period (7 months from start of December to end of June). We're talking the hard-disk-based players here, BTW, as per the interview.

      Apple doesn't have a market share of 100 million iPods. They've got an _installed base_ of 100 million iPods. During the first three months of '07, Apple sold 10,549,000 iPods - but the Shuffle and the Nano don't count (flash-based). Let's assume (for the sake of argument) that about half the iPods Apple sell are the HD models, and that they'll sell about the same again the April-June period. So you're looking at about 8-10 million HD iPods sold in the period described. Suddenly, a 10% market share for the Zune selling about 1 million in the same period isn't unrealistic.

      I think we can assume that the Microsoft guy got the size of the market right - he may be exaggerating sales by including units still in the channels and not with customers, but the size of the market is right.

      Still, I don't know who buys these things. But then, I don't think MS sells them in Australia yet, so that's hardly surprising for me.

      --
      "Software is too expensive to build cheaply"
    5. Re:10% of $product market... by Scrameustache · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Apple doesn't have a market share of 100 million iPods. They've got an _installed base_ of 100 million iPods. During the first three months of '07, Apple sold 10,549,000 iPods - but the Shuffle and the Nano don't count (flash-based). I'm sorry to jump in your fun numbers game, but...

      Do you think the future of iPods (in the generic sense) is in hard drives?
      Because the way I see things going, it seems like non-mechanical storage is on the march.
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  3. Is the Zune a Player? by GaryPatterson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd hoped that the Zune would be a stronger competitor to the iPod, offering things Apple didn't and raising the bar on portable players generally.

    As a fan of Apple, I'm keen to see better players in this space to drive everyone up. It's good to see Microsoft claiming the million players sold, but the Zune as it stands today is a turkey. The innovative wireless sharing has been hobbled by unnecessarily draconian DRM, leaving a weak offering. Maybe Zune 2 will be better, but it's a failure to release a poor first showing, as now we've all got this first impression to overcome.

    I'd like to see Microsoft release a really solid Zune. Promises are worth exactly nothing; only products matter.

  4. Sold? or Shipped? by Basilius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We all know MSFT counts something as sold the day it leaves the warehouse, not the day it leaves the store.

    I know more people with Archos products (2) than Zunes (1).

  5. Best Buy, Comp USA, Wal-Mart? by Bayoudegradeable · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1,000,000 sold to vendors perhaps? Sold to customers might be different but if there are 1 mil Zunes on shelves or in stock out there M$ can claim "million sold."

    --
    Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
  6. Re:Finally! What I've been waiting for! by Tickletaint · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Only because the color is emblematic of everything else wrong with the Zune. Skin it all you want, but the Zune is still hobbled by Microsoft's staggering failure to "get it."

    --
    Make Slashdot readable! See journal.
  7. Re:Same with the ipods back when they hit 1 mil. by FonzCam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not that iPods were more visible among certain subcultures, it's because the iPod is more visible because of those bright white headphones. People advertise the fact that they are using an iPod. If you saw someone walking down the street listening to a Zune you'd probably think it was an iPod with 3rd party headphones.

  8. Nice! by mattgreen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It can be simplified further:

    * If we like said product/OS, then every tiny gain in market share is major news which is accepted without further questioning of the facts as presented. Comments on article consist of lots of pats on the back and generally positive.
    * If we don't like said product/OS, then every tiny gain in market share involves questioning the facts as presented. Insert long diatribes about unfairness of past behavior. You can even make statements that conditionally apply, i.e. "monopolies are bad. Except for the iPod, they earned it!"

    The funny part is you have a bunch of posts nitpicking over the 10% mark: "there's no way the Zune has 10%!" Yes, way to miss the entire point of the post.

  9. Re:Same with the ipods back when they hit 1 mil. by FatherOfONe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I strongly disagree. I don't ever notice what headphones people have but I look at what MP3 player they are listening to and I can say that I have never seen ANYONE using a Zune. I work in I.T. and am surrounded by a few Microsoft lemmings and yet none of them have even jumped on the bandwagon yet. Some of them won't buy an Ipod out of their hatred of Apple, but yet won't buy a Zune.... That says a lot.

    I am willing to bet that Microsoft has around 50 to 60,000 employees and contractors and that a majority of these went to friends and families at a huge discount or free.

    I challenge the 1 million sold and say that it is 1 million sold to distributors. I say that Microsoft is channel stuffing much like it did with the 360 and that the sales are probably far closer to 500k than 1 million. At 500k there will be "some" people here on slashdot that know someone who has one, but the vast majority of people won't have seen one in the wild.

    Please note that I am NOT saying the Zune is a bad product, I am just saying that it isn't really at 1 million units in the wild.

    --
    The more I learn about science, the more my faith in God increases.
  10. How much did they pay for this slashvertisement? by Ant+P. · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Check the UID and comment count of the "user" that submitted this story.

  11. Re:Reading between the lines, or what isn't said.. by Technician · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Who does Microsoft sell to? That is the question. Have you been in a Microsoft store lately? Microsoft sells to retailers. How many Zunes are in retailers wareshouses awaiting retail sale? I bet the sales guy gets a pretty good spiff for selling a Zune over a Zen.

    My daughter away in school wanted a Xen Video. We went to a retailer and asked for one. The salesman convienently heard me say Zune. They acted like they didn't know what or where the Zen's were. Either I got a real diwit for a salesman, or they were blinded by the possible spiff for selling a Zune. The store did have Zen's, but were sold out of the video model.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
  12. Re:Not that stupid. by toddestan · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Nothing at all happened to the concept of personal choice. But the original poster is still correct. Show me ten people who know about, care about, and prefer to use Ogg Vorbis and I'll show you at least nine, and probably ten, open source fans. And he's also correct in saying that if you had ripped the music to MP3 you could listen to it on practically anything.

    What's with all the Vorbis bashing on slashdot these days? It's a superior codec than MP3, unencumbered by patents, absolutely free to use, and is supported by several brands of music players. The only real reason I can see to not like Vorbis is that Apple does not like Vorbis, and that's a stupid reason if you ask me.

  13. Not catching up al all... by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 2, Insightful
    In the time Zune sold 1M, ipod sold probably tens on M. Dropping behind more like.

    Of course this all depends on if you can believe a fanboy site.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  14. Church of Slashdot by Scottoest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looks like quite a few of you skipped church on Sunday, because the Microsoft groupthink has been split down two separate veins of baseless conjecture today:

    1) 1 million Zunes sold is a drop in the bucket. A DROP IN THE BUCKET I SAY!

    Yeah, and this story wasn't about the Zunes market dominance - it was about a MS official stating they met their internal targets of 1 mllion by the end of June. But good lord, for every anecdotal story you have of not knowing anyone who owns a Zune (statistically likely since they have only sold a million units), there is someone else who does. I personally have one friend who owns one, and he seems to enjoy it.

    2) Microsoft obviously fudged the numbers! The Zune is crappy, there is no way!

    A lot of you are making jokes about how they massaged this number, or how it's probably a million units shipped to retail, but you have nothing to back this up at all, just like you didn't with the Vista license sales stories. Just baseless conjecture sprouting from the basic Microsoft == Evil truism. If they somehow admit to faking the numbers, then string them up accordingly.

    Honestly though - take a scroll through all of the comments in this story, and you will cringe. And this is coming from someone who is a happy 3rd Gen iPod owner, and who isn't interested in the Zune in the slightest.

    Don't buy their product if it doesn't have what you want, but all of this foaming at the mouth hatred for everything they do or release seriously hamstrings your credibility.

    - Scott

  15. The numbers aren't important unless... by Darniaq · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You separate how many sold THROUGH (to consumers) versus how many were sold IN (to retailers)

  16. Re:Reading between the lines, or what isn't said.. by Donjo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    FWIW, I used to work in a retail store that sold zunes and other MP3 players and we never got spiffs for zunes despite the fact that other companies offered stuff like that (Helio Phones always gave a pretty good spiff). Maybe he is just a zune owner and wants to "squirt" your daughter.

  17. Industry, Markets, M$. by twitter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People in the industry like to break up the market into "hard drive" and "flash" segments.

    And then the people at M$ like to just make up a number that sounds big and an excuse for it that sounds good but is wrong. It's called lying.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  18. Re:They're catching up, then... by aichpvee · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm sure microsoft has enough money to buy it. Hell, I fucking HATE microsoft and I'd still sell it to them for a hundred million or so. If they're serious about the brand they'd buy it. Or get their lawyers to cook up some reason why the current owners are infringing on their trademarks or something and sue them out of existence to get the domain.

    It shows a real lack of dedication on the part of microsoft.

    --
    The Farewell Tour II