iPod claims more than 92 percent marketshare
updated 07:30 pm EDT, Tue October 12, 2004
iPod marketshare at 92%
The NPD Group, a research analysis firm, said that all models of the for hard drive-based music players, up from 82.2 percent a year ago, while players from Creative and Rio were a distant second and third, with 3.7 percent and 3.2 percent of the market, respectively, according CNET News.com: "NPD analyst Stephen Baker attributed the results to a strong launch for new fourth-generation versions of the iPod, which arrived on the market just at the right time to dominate back-to-school buying. 'Back-to-school has turned out to be a very big season for music players,' Baker said. The iPod Mini, the smaller 4GB version of the player Apple introduced last year, continues to sell well, Baker said, but Apple faces credible competition there from new devices such as Rio's Carbon."
99.99%
10/12, 08:07pm reply
can we do it!?
DeKU
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2001
I hope apple holds on...
10/12, 08:26pm reply
Those are pretty impessive numbers. I hope apple holds on to the lead and continues to drive the market rather than just opening it up for others. Microsoft could very easily take an x-box approach to music players and subsidise the hardware in hopes of gaining music customers. Netscape's marketshare was almost equally high before IE was dumped on the market. Netscape did make alot of mistakes along the way that gave IE the edge and AOL hasn't helped much since.
I do think the apple brand and design will hold up better than netscape but it is a rarity where the premium product is also the sales leader. Tomy Hilfigure is a sought after and respected brand but the world buys levis and wrangler.
This really reminds me of the early 80's where the sony walkman was the cassette player of choice.. sure there were other tape players but they weren't "walkmans." The fact that my grandmother refers to all portable music devices as "iPods" suggests that apple isn't going away anytime soon.
eswinson
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Joined: Jul 2002
Mmmm....
10/12, 08:52pm reply
92% market share...
g4zilla
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Joined: Jun 2000
oh god
10/12, 09:21pm reply
a monopoly, stifling competition by trying to control all aspects of digital music delivery… gates will surely sue!
ecrelin
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Joined: Oct 2000
We have achieved
10/12, 09:24pm reply
ubiquity
Manthas
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Joined: May 2004
so where are..
10/12, 09:33pm reply
all those who said ipod would be at 70% by this time...?
jpellino
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Joined: Oct 1999
Nagromme
10/12, 10:52pm reply
Who cares if Apple holds on to 92% or not? I'd have thought even 25% of this market would be nice :)
nagromme
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2000
Rio's Carbon
10/12, 11:01pm reply
Not even! Theirs looks stupid...iPod will continue to lead. Mainly because Apple wisely bought up a lot of the mini hard disks at a nice price that these afterthoughts cannot touch now.
bigpoppa206
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Joined: Jun 2003
Read the article... 82%
10/12, 11:02pm reply
Earlier article today on C|Net, echoed in the Bloomberg article.
No doubt, Manthas.
zac4mac
Senior User
Joined: Oct 1999
why AAC/fairplay is...
10/13, 12:46am reply
... so important. trying to maintain 92% is an absurd notion, it's just not going to happen. someone, somewhere is going to catch up someday. what is essential is that apple use this time to make AAC/fairplay the de-facto music standard thereby ensuring a microsoft-esque dominance in the future (AAC effectively becomes windows for portable players, and potentially video).
while the ipod remains the "it" player, apple needs to get people to invest enough money in AAC music files that come time to upgrade in 2-3 years they either have to go with the ipod, or another fairplay licensee. i suspect the licensee's will start to show up when the iTMS is doing business >25million songs a month and ipod market share is
dashiel
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Joined: Sep 2001