“The iPod phenomenon that many thought would peak after the Christmas rush has maintained its momentum. An eBay spokeswoman said sales of the portable music players averaged about an hour on the Australian site, which currently lists around 430 iPod and iPod accessory items. Trade in second-hand iPods is also fuelling sales in the newer models,” Bridie Smith writes for The Sydney Morning Herald.
“Myer and Megamart electronics business manager Neil Merola said there was no such thing as saturation point when it came to the pocket-sized music player, with new stock constantly on order,” Smith writes. “Mr Merola said since Christmas iPods had remained the best single-selling product, with interest boosted by the introduction of the cheaper-priced shuffle range. ‘It hasn’t stopped at all,’ he said. ‘The uptake has been phenomenal . . . the growth for the MP3 market will continue to grow two and three-fold over the next year or so.’ In the United States, 22 million people own iPods, while about 4.4 million were sold in Australia last year.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple cuts iPod prices to grab market share; analyst estimates 35 million iPods shipped by year end – June 29, 2005
RealMoney: Apple’s iPod Halo Effect ‘quite profound,’ Macs taking good market share from Wintel – June 27, 2005
Apple passed 20 million iPods sold milestone in early June – June 24, 2005
Fortune: Apple iPod a true cultural and social phenomenon – June 13, 2005
in spite of their best efforts, other device makers cannot find that magic “iPod/iTunes” Silver iBullet.
it just keeps going and going and going….
I threw my iPod at a pitbull on Saturday. Can’t stand those f&^&* dogs. This is my 4th iPod. Things keep happening to my iPods. I’m just going to go to NY and mug someone and take theirs on the subway.
Grrrrrrrrrrr…..
He’s the angriest Mac Consultant in the world….
Grrrrrrrrrr…..
“”In the United States, 22 million people own iPods, while about 4.4 million were sold in Australia last year.”
Can this be true. With the population of Australia at 20,354,000; this means that more than one in five Australians have bought an iPod LAST YEAR!
While with the population of the USA at 296,536,000 there’s only one iPod for 13.5 Americans – ALLTOGETHER!!
Ironically the iTunes Music Store is not available in Australia.
I’m giddy overall retail. Ooh.
Sol,
You’re dead right mate. But I’m not happy. MDN bloggers see my comments on the iTunes half a billion download story. I’m one very pissed off iPod owning Australian.
it cant be correct
4.4 million ipods in a country with only 20 million people
probly 440 000
just pirate songs if you cant buy them from itunes
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if they wont sell ’em to you …steal em
bought a 30gig 3rd gen from eBay oz … sweet
mw: “quality” refers to the spanish leather cover it lives in … even sweeter.
Re radiomoscow:
It could actually be right. Survey after survey shows that Australia is outperformed only by Norway in the uptake of new technology. And I see so many people with white ear bud headphones.
Last September I was in the Applecentre Broadway (in Sydney) to put a deposit on a new iMac. The person before me was in her early twenties and was buying an ipod mini. This other dude was like really old with a beret and nasal hair. I reckon he was in his seventies. He was buying a top of the line ipod.
March last year I turned 50 and my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I jokingly said (actually I was joking only twenty percent) I want a twenty gig ipod. She replied OK and I got the ipod.
Now she’s going over to the States to visit her family and guess what’s she’s thinking of getting…an ipod of course.
The dog will NOT be getting a Shuffle. And if my 87 year old mother wants one I’ll really spin.
As you can see they’re really popular.
I concur with bikersrule.
On my walk to work from Kangaroo Point (no, there aren’t any kangaroos hopping around the suburb) to the CBD (40 minutes at a fast clip) or when I do cardio with my mate, I count the number of iPods I see along the way.
A year ago it would be 1 iPod for every 10 people I passed. Today it’s like 1, 2, 3, no, no, 4, 5, no, no, no, 6, no, 7, no, no, no, no, 8, 9…. It really is phenomenal.
Apple Australia must be giggling to themselves like excited school girls, which brings me to the one sore point:
Where’s our iTMS, Apple?
Dear Stuart,
My name is also Stewart. Weird huh.
I live in Sydney and everyone seems to be getting an Ipod. On the train, most commuters have white earbuds, bopping away. Rarely do I see any other kind of MP3 player.
Australia is basically a surburban middle class society which has a high take up of advanced technology. It is unsurprising that the Ipod has been such an incredible phenomenon here.
Having said all of this, I think 4.4M seems rather high.
I’m waiting for a 2 gig ipod shuffle with a small display, kind of like the 512 mb player that sony just released with a 50+ hour battery life and an fm radio tuner. since the price of 2 gig flash memory chips are down to $11, it seems doable for a reasonable price.