“Checks with retailers in the north east indicate there is strong demand for Apple Computer’s Intel Mac line leading into the holiday shopping season, with sales of the its iPod digital music players also gaining traction, analysts for UBS Investment Research said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the firm’s inquiries turned up “little excitement” over Microsoft’s Zune digital music player, which makes its market debut today,” Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
McLean reports, “The checks were part UBS’s monthly ‘Retail Rumblings’ report, where analysts visit several retail stores in New York and New Jersey to focus on printer, PC/Mac and iPod activity, including on-site discussions with store managers, monthly price and inventory tracking and shelf space observations. The firm also checks company and retail websites, and conducts telephone interviews nationwide to supplement those findings.”
“‘Our checks for Apple continue to be positive for MacBooks, which could lend upside potential to our estimates for fiscal 1Q07 (ends December) and bodes well for continued share gains,’ analyst Ben Reitzes wrote in his report to clients, first distributed on Monday. ‘While Apple continues to dominate the MP3 player market in terms of share, our checks indicate that the MP3 market is a bit more subdued than last year due to general market maturation,'” McLean reports.
McLean reports, “Still, Reitzes said he noticed some improvement in iPod nano demand as a result of the remastered aluminum models. He said initial sales of the company’s second-generation iPod shuffle also appear to be solid. ‘While Microsoft’s Zune will hit stores tomorrow, our checks show little excitement around the new product and we are not expecting much of an impact to iPod sales from the new MP3 player,’ the analyst wrote. ‘In fact, initial reviews for the Zune have been far from impressive.'”
Full article with much more, including talk of “ultraportable Apple notebooks,” Mac OS X Leopard, Mac Pros, iMacs, MacBooks, and more, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “LinuxGuy and Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]
I was just in We Be Toys.
They have been heavily advertising the SQUIRTER in their print ads.
I saw nobody around the Zunes……..
Last year this time. They has special lines at my local Apple store just to handle iPod/Accessory sales.
Hey Bob…meet Zune….Zune here will be you room mate in Museum of technologies that failed, Microsft Wing (under expansion).
Media Bias…This morning on the Today Show. When comparing the two models side by side…they somehow managed to place a 4G Monochrome iPod next to the new Zune. What’s up with that? Were they afraid to place it next to a new Video iPod?
HEY!
Wouldn’t it be fun to have a zune/ipod series of commercials, ala Mac/PC ones out now?
iPodBob….brought to you by MSNBC….get it???
Will the Zune sales rival those of the Origami device? So much shelf space, so little sales.
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I hear that among people that enjoy converting foreign currency in their spare time are quite excited about Zune so they can do currency/point conversions on a more regular basis.
Zune Account Creation – sign up y’all with your…
Name, address, phone number, email, cell number (optional), passport, credit card, alternative credit card, hotmail, msn, Windows Live ID, Windows registration code, XBox Tag….
Don’t forget to read the Zune Privacy Policy (online only) and protected with Windows “Secure for Sure” Guarantee (disclaimed).
(And I’m one of the few who trap html email with an offline browser.)
WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY ITS IMPORTANT THEY ARE IN BEST BUY.
Anyone else having trouble installing the Zune software on their Mac?
iMac G5 17″, 160GB HDD, 1MB RAM
That should be 1GB RAM, sorry.
Really Pumped 4 Zune:
Heh.
But I wonder…anybody ask the question “Can you install Zune software on an Intel Mac under Parallels or Bootcamp and get it to work?”
Of course, the second part of that question is “Why would you want to?”
I think we can all see the handwriting on the Zune. To me the real question is, just how far is MS willing to go to not be so obviously smoked by an Apple product. If MS will play fair, the predicted outcome is almost inevitable. But, if MS starts cheating, and by now we all know that they are perfectly willing to do that, then we just might see a different outcome.
Buy Vista and get a Zune. It comes with the manuals.
Zune, just like IE, is an integral part of Vista and cannot be removed easily.
That is perhaps one way MS can build its “Social”
Really-
Maybe I missed the joke-I did miss your joke didn’t I? Since the software is XP-only, I think I must have.
i’m in the northeast and i will buy a macbook very soon
Really Pumped for Zune said (For some strange reason):
“Anyone else having trouble installing the Zune software on their Mac? iMac G5 17″, 160GB HDD, 1MB RAM”
It would be really surprising if anyone with your system DIDN’T have a problem installing the Zune software. It’s Windows only.
Are you trying this in VirtualPC???
Ray: I was just at (4:00PM local time) the local Circuit City to pick up a copy of The Da Vinci Code. They had a big “ZUNE Coming Zune” banner with an add-on “ZUNE NOW IN STOCK!” attached outside outside the store and similar posters on the doors and windows.
I asked the clerks how many Zune’s they had sold… the check out clerk said “What’s a Zune?” and the store manager, walking by, said “So far we haven’t sold even one!”
Meanwhile, a couple of store employees were putting up hanging banners in the middle of the store that said “MP3 City” and “iPod Headquarters!”
How many employees does MS have – about 50,000 or so I guess. Well no doubt they’ll all be getting one for this Christmas… and next Christmas… and the next Christmas.
Ballmer: look how many we’ve ‘sold’… ahhh… distributed.