14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft recently re-confirmed its plans announced originality for the Zune digital media player devices, one million items sold by mid 2007. Launched in November 2006, Zune had modest goals for a device expected to be an iPod killer. Microsoft revealed that it expected to sell just one million devices by June 30 2007, a date synonymous with the end of the fiscal year.
And the Zune device lived up to its modest expectations, and only barely. The confirmation that Zune is performing in accordance with the initial forecasts from Microsoft was also delivered by Robbie Bach, president of the Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division.
However, 1 million sold Zune devices accounts only for the devices that the Redmond Company has shipped to retailers and not the media player acquired by end-users. This is because Microsoft always reports 'sell-in' numbers. The company only keeps track of the units sent to retailers, and not to customers.
According to estimates from the NPD group, the actual volume of sold Zune devices is in the vicinity of 750,000 units. However, NPD does credit Zune with a market share of 11.3% for hard disk-based players in May 2007 in the U.S. This means that Microsoft has increased its presence on the market from 9.9% in January.
And it cannot be any other way in the context of great examples of support similar to that of mszunefan. The number one Zune fan got his first Zune tattoo (the logo, what else) a while back, but apparently he now can't get enough of it. After getting ink for the first time, mszunefan got his second Zune tattoo, and is now talking about the next step in turning his body into a monument for Microsoft's digital media player. The Redmond Company has even contacted mszunefan and will fly him to Redmond for an interview on Channel 9 and an opportunity to meet the Zune team.
