“Apple’s share of the US flash-player MP3 market grew from 43 percent in February to 58 percent in March, according to research firm NPD. Apple’s share of the US hard-disk player market was also at 90 percent, while the iTunes Music Store marketshare was above 70 percent in April. The data were reported by Merill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich in a research note to clients. The analyst also discussed future iPod enhancements expected by the end of the year, the (non-existent) mobile phone threat, and more. The firm reiterated its ‘Buy’ rating on Apple stock with a price target of of $51 per share,” MacNN reports.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: So much for the “war.” Not bad for a “big let-down that’s worse than the cheapest Chinese player,” huh? We hope they’ve bolted the windows shut over at Creative’s corporate headquarters. Nobody wants to see any broken sidewalks in Singapore.

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple squeezes and Creative’s profit plunges 72-percent – April 23, 2005
Apple iPod pressure forces Creative to drop prices on music players – March 01, 2005
Creative’s self-declared ‘MP3 player war’ against Apple isn’t going very well – January 20, 2005
Creative CEO: Apple iPod shuffle ‘a big let-down, worse than the cheapest Chinese player’ – January 12, 2005
Creative declares ‘war’ on Apple iPod, shoots for 40% market share of MP3 players – December 21, 2004
Creative Technology declares ‘MP3 War’ against market-dominating Apple iPod – November 17, 2004
Mossberg: Dell, Rio, Creative ‘iPod mini killers’ lag badly behind Apple iPod mini – October 27, 2004
Creative pushes to become ‘Pepsi’ to Apple’s ‘Coke’ in digital music player market – August 07, 2004