TECH FART:
Bryan Lee, the Microsoft executive responsible for the marketing of the Zune, resigned yesterday.
Lee was the corporate vice president for Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, and was in charge of marketing Microsoft’s digital music player.
According to Lee and Microsoft, his departure has “absolutely” nothing to do with the Zune’s poor sales, and is a purely personal decision.
As of the moment, the Zune has 10% of the market for digital media players in the United States, while Apple’s iPod has 85%, according to an NPD Group survey, while other more conservative surveys put the Zune dominance at 2%.
More details on Lee’s squirting out of Microsoft from MSNBC.
February 4, 2007 at 3:29 pm
The ten percent market share of the Zune refers to sales during the Christmas gift rush. Given how podcentric the market is, ten percent is actually a respectable figure for an underdog device.
The problem however is sustainability. The ten percent sales figure happened during the first two weeks of the Christmas rush. But then SanDisk slashed its prices to half and suddenly the market dropped the Zune and headed for the SanDisk players. SanDisk practically tied iPod in media device sales! And that’s when Zune thudded to just two percent.
Which means that the market would readily drop the Zune like so much dead weight once a more attractive bargain comes to town, while the iPod still retains a remarkable track record for customer loyalty.
February 4, 2007 at 3:32 pm
ADDENDUM:
…Figures that MSNBC would claim the Zune’s market share to be ten percent.
February 4, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Funny thing I found this morning on a site (which I’m still looking for so I can quote it properly). I read there that (with iPods taking 85% and Microsoft 5% of the market) Microsoft is happy that together with Apple, they control 90% of the DMP market.
Duh?