Microsoft Corp.’s Zune took second place in the U.S. digital music-player market in its first week on sale, passing SanDisk Corp.’s Sansa, market researcher NPD Group Inc. said.
Zune captured 9 percent of the market in the week ended Nov. 18, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said in an e-mailed statement. Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod remained the leader, with a 63 percent share when measured by units sold.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, started selling its first music player on Nov. 14 to capture a share of the $4 billion U.S. market dominated by Apple. Microsoft said it is selling the $250 Zune, which competes against new video iPods released in September, through almost 30,000 retailers.
“It’s a good start and clearly Microsoft’s retail presence and the publicity leading up to the device led to a number of customers coming out to explore the player,” said Ross Rubin, an analyst for NPD, which compiles weekly retail sales data.
Zune’s debut was “particularly impressive” given that it’s only available in a 30-gigabyte version, which makes the player expensive compared with others including Sansa models from Milpitas, California-based SanDisk, Rubin said. Apple offers a range of iPods, starting with the $79 Shuffle.
