Microsoft Zune: Hot or Not?

Compare this:

Due to what he called a less than favorable reception, Munster doesn't expect the Zune to materially affect iPod sales in the current quarter.
Microsoft released the Zune less than two weeks ago. Munster noted the Zune held the 7th spot on Amazon's best-selling MP3 players list on Nov. 16, the Thursday of the week it launched. By the following Monday, it has already fallen down the list.
As of midday Tuesday, the black 30-gigabyte Zune held the No. 22 spot on the list, while Apple's black 30-gigabyte iPod took the top spot followed by four other iPod versions — including the pink 4-gigabyte Nano at No. 5 and the tiny 1-gig Shuffle at No. 3. Both Apple's and Microsoft's 30-gig music players retail for about $249. Unlike the iPod, the Zune features a built-in FM tuner.
The Zune is not generally seen as a threat to the iPod, which dominates the portable music player market. Shaw Wu, an analyst for American Technology Research, has predicted that Zune's success may instead come at the expense of other makers of portable music players, such as Sony, Samsung and Creative Technology Ltd.
As for reviews, Munster noted that they have been neutral to negative.
When the Zune made its debut, "the player drew many comparisons to the iPod, but failed to match up in the eyes of most reviewers," the analyst wrote.
When it comes to marketing, "our checks show that Zune ads are being placed more selectively than iPod ads," Munster said, adding that the Zune "is off to a slow start; from sales perspective as well as the marketing perspective."

To this:
Microsoft has won a 9 percent unit share of consumer portable digital audio players in the week ended Nov. 18, according to The NPD Group.
The research company reported a 13 percent dollar share for Microsoft’s new $249 Zune, making it the No. 2 portable digital audio supplier for the week.
However, Apple remained the clear leader with 63 percent unit share and 72.5 percent dollar share for the week, said NPD.
“Microsoft attracted early adopters in a successful launch week for Zune, eking out Sandisk as the No. 2 digital audio player vendor,” said Ross Rubin, NPD director of industry analysis. “This was especially impressive given Zune’s single-capacity configuration and relatively high price point. However, Apple still retained dominant share during the week and Zune was still outsold by PlaysForSure-compatible players in aggregate.”


So, which is it? I guess I'm going to have to actually watch this story now.

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