“Initial attempts to steal Apple’s iPod marketshare aren’t achieving traction, recent figures from researchers at The NPD Group imply. September’s figures show Apple’s iPod with an 87.3 per cent share, and the Apple iPod from HP with a 3.6 per cent share. This combines to a 90.9 per cent share, down slightly from the Apple-only 92 per cent share in August,” Jonny Evans reports for Macworld UK. “The period also reflects a month in which third-party Apple resellers in the UK complained of constraint across all the company’s product channels at a time in which the market for hard drive-base music players grew 12 per cent, according to NPD.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The market domination of Apple’s iPod continues. HP vaults into second place, with Apple’s iPod, of course. This report shows that HP and Apple made quite a smart deal when they partnered and that iPod platform remains the standard by which all others are measured. The also-ran Rios and Creatives of the world face an Everest-sized mountain to climb.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Report: Apple iPod holds 92.1 percent of hard drive-based music player market – October 12, 2004
Apple iPod grabs massive market share, leaves also-rans in the dust – October 12, 2004
I believe that, with these numbers, the iPod can officially be called a “platform”.
Although every day there are stories in the press about how Apple’s position in this market is tenuous because they are keeping it a “closed” system, I don’t think that I see many ppress releases for add on products for Rios or Dell Jukeboxes. THAT is what defines a self sustaing platform technology, and what all the analysts have identified as the insurmountable hill for the Mac to climb. People are INVESTING a lot more into their iPods than just the iPod itself.
Even if Rio, Dell, Sony et. al. could put something together that didn’t suck, would people run out to buy it if they had to throw out their iPod cases, iTrips, chargers, BMWs
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Just wait for Steve to unveil a flash player! Let’s see what happens to the overall marketshare numbers.
HP’s share will soon be double the next competitors…
Yeah, I want to see a Flash player, get a product into all the major spaces of digital entertainment, and while you’re at it Apple, release and support an AAC standard CD format, that allows people to burn AAC CDs including tracks from your iTMS. That would lock people in even more when all CD players out there have AAC support.
Remember when people were complaining about the new iPod proprietary connection? Where are those people now?
The numbers dont count online sales. I wonder how many HPpods are being sold online as apposed to in the store (and Apple too). I would be willing to bet the iPod would gain another percentage point or two
It’s all lies!!!!
Yes it’s a shame that online sales are not included. It would be interesting to see how Dull’s players are doing in comparison.
Think this through:
1) lets index market at 100 (apple had 92, others 8)
2) Article says HD sales increased 12% so market goes to 112
3) Apple now has 90.9% of 112 which is 102, others have 10
4) Apple growth is then = 102-92 = 10.
IN ONE MONTH ALONE APPLE SALES GREW MORE THAN THE ENTIRE SIZE OF THE REST OF THE MARKET
NOT BAD IN MY BOOKS!!!
JAVA
I read somewhere that Apple and HP wanted to sell at least 1 million iPods a month for this quarter.
That would be a 50 % growth over the last quarter (3 million vs. 2 million).
I would hope that combined they could sell 4 million for the Xmas quarter – providing of course that supply is there to cover the demand.
Apple needs a (usable) flash player to get the low end users started. Like a Trojan horse, many of them will later upgrade to a real HD iPod when they discover they can no longer live without one.
Dell does this with their $495 (everything you will ever need) computers. Later when the new computer users become frustrated, they go out and upgrade their (buy a whole new) Dell computer. Dell then claims their user base is double.
Apple lost 1 % of the market share. SO, the other makers ARE making a dent….
“Apple lost 1 % of the market share. SO, the other makers ARE making a dent….”
I think it’s more like a scratch. One that will be fully healed and better than before when the Holiday season comes.
Apple “lost 1%” not because the others are making a dent, the lost marketshare because the market grew more than their user base, but thay still had growth (for both iPods and computers), which is far from a bad thing
I hope the flash iPod has and extendable USB/Flash so that we can use it as USB key as well as a audio player. Maybe build in a camera? Philips has something like this, but apple has experience with cameras as well. Maybe they could let HP build them. I want one.
I wonder how much HP’s hPod is beating Dell’s DJ in percentage. Is the DJ even registering on the scale?
Java said “think this through”
better think it through properly next time!
Statistically, 1 % is meaningless. Market share will increase in the next quarter as HP really gets going with sales and Apple adds additional mini sales (constrained pretty much up to recently) and iPod Photo and the U2 version becomes available this month. Remember, the overall market is increasing as more people purchase players. I would guess Apple will have a flash player available in February for $150.
I think it is time to take advantage and turn this FUD around.
What is taking so long for Microsoft to licence AAC from Apple?
Are they too poor?
Don’t they care about the poor consumers out there with other players that can only play ATRAC, MP3 and, what was that other one that was around?
Isn’t Microsoft about giving it’s customer’s choice?
Bill, talk to Steve, offer him money for a licence to AAC. Flash some money. You can do it Bill.
90.9%. Now THAT, my fellow Americans, is a MANDATE,
i thought we already knew this.. it’s gone DOWN since we last heard about 92%..
oh well.. it’s still an excellent number.. and yes, platform worthy
90.9% to apple/hp
6.9% to creative/rio/iriver
leaves 2.2% for EVERYONE ELSE
so it is probably fair to assume that sony’s share is less than 1% … ouch
translated another way this means that for every person buying a sony HD based player, 90 are buying iPods … double ouch
Road Warrior: Apple doesn’t own AAC.
AAC= Advanced Audio Codec
not ‘Apple Audio Codec’
no hellstudios,
AAC= Advanced Audio Coding
http://www.apple.com/mpeg4/aac/
hellstudios
You are correct, I should have said “fairplay”. Thanks for the correction.
Now I wonder why others don’t use AAC.
hellstudios
You are correct, I should have said “fairplay”. Thanks for the correction.
Now I wonder why others don’t use AAC.
Although i think that Apple should eventually license out Fairplay to sew up the market and ensure they own the market for the foreseeable future, they seem to be doing everything right so far and just hope they stay on this and get the timing right.