The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

Featured Article: ForeSee Survey: Apple, Newegg and H-P Lead in Online Satisfaction

iPod Claims 82% HD-Based Retail Market Share; 42% All Players (UPDATE)

by , 3:30 PM EDT, October 11th, 2004

Apple's iPod and iPod mini had a 82% market share among hard drive-based portable music players in the last year, according to August figures from market research firm NPG Group. For all types of portable music players, Apple market share was 41.9%, the company told The Mac Observer, Monday.

A published report from Bloomberg News on Monday mistakingly gave the impression the 82% share was for all players.

The figure are for the month of August and are for US retail stores only, excluding direct sales and other online sales. The numbers are calculated using a percentage of actual unit sales reported by major retailers, such as Apple's retail stores, together with consumers surveys of buying habits.

The 82% market share of hard drive-based players is up from 64% from a year ago and 33% from two years ago, NPD said.

Among hard drive-based players, Creative Technology placed far second with a 3.7% share, followed by Rio at 3.2%.

Among all portable music players - hard drive-based as well as flash-based - Apple was first with 41.9%, Rio in second with 10.0%, iRiver in third with 9.3%, and RCA in fourth with 9.0%.

Brad Gibson contributed to this article.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:AFCdtLoeb Posts: 2533 Joined: 20 Jul 2004
Subject:

82%?! Holy mother of Pearl!!!!

View Name:Guest
Subject: Bring on the 60 Gig
View Name:Guest
Subject: NPG Group claims iPods hold a 82% market share
View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: He's busy
View Name:Guest
Subject: Missing MP3 players built into phones, palm/pda, etc.
Close Name:slinky259 Posts: 91 Joined: 24 Jun 2004
Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Do these numbers incldue video players? Phones that play MP3? Palms?

Name another hard drive based music player! Can't? That's because they're no comparison to the iPod.


Umm... that Rio one... think it's called Karma or something... Creative Nomad Zen thing... dell jukebox... just off the top of my head.

not saying they are any competition - but people know they exist

View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: Will your next MP3 player be a cell phone?
Close Name:Intruder -   TMO Mac Specialist Posts: 2843 Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Subject:

Nope.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Cell Phones?????
Close Name:Small White Car Posts: 1937 Joined: 02 Jul 2004
Subject: Re: Will your next MP3 player be a cell phone?

Quote
Anonymous wrote:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5535370-1.html?tag=cnetfd.sd

Could this be the iPods undoing?

Maybe in about a year from now. Cell phones seem to be the more logical vector to assimilate these peripheral technologies like PDAs, cameras, etc.

And all the iPod fans shuddered at the thought.


Whoo! $500 cell phones! Yeah, those'll take right off!

If they cost any less than that their features will be much less appealing than the iPod's.

Close Name:AyaSofya Posts: 137 Joined: 11 May 2004
Subject: $500 cell phone, I bought one

"Whoo! $500 cell phones! Yeah, those'll take right off!"

I bought my wife one, a Treo 600, because she is deaf and could use it for email communication. The full keyboard makes it easier to compose messages, than trying to wrestle with the standard phone keypad found on most cell phones. With the cell phone feature we thought it a better deal than Blackberry. Actually the phone had a rebate at the time and the total cost was not much more than higher end cell phone.

However, this summer she had a cochlear implant, this unit bypasses her damaged inner ear and directly stimulates the audio nerve. She has regained over 50% of her hearing! http://www.cochlearamericas.com/

View Name:Guest
Subject:
Close Name:Biff Posts: 1479 Joined: 08 Apr 2004
Subject: Re: Will RC's next MP3 player be a cell phone?

Quote
Guest wrote:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6450_7-5535370-1.html?tag=cnetfd.sd

Could this be the iPods undoing?

Maybe in about a year from now. Cell phones seem to be the more logical vector to assimilate these peripheral technologies like PDAs, cameras, etc.

And all the iPod fans shuddered at the thought.
Predictions of an iPod killer! All the others have been wrong but not this one! I mean come on could this guy be wrong?
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/col/hed_mi.jpg

I'll just wait for a nice top secret bluetooth accessory that will be out for 4G iPod.

Close Name:jimothy Posts: 567 Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Subject:

Quote
AyaSofya wrote:

However, this summer she had a cochlear implant, this unit bypasses her damaged inner ear and directly stimulates the audio nerve. She has regained over 50% of her hearing! http://www.cochlearamericas.com/


Best of luck to your wife! First thing I'd do for her after the operation--get her an iPod!

View Name:Guest
Subject: iRiver
View Name:Guest
Subject: Will APPLE bring Flash iPod?
Close Name:Suffolkmina Posts: 2 Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Subject: Will Apple bring Flash iPod?

I've heard the same thing.
That'll cannivalize iPod, mini, and photo.

Close Name:Mace Posts: 9023 Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Subject:

Flash based iPod will not cannabilize the other iPod because those going for flash based are casual buyers who do not buy much songs. Whereas those who have bought iPod tend to own/buy many songs. They are two separate market segment.

The market share figures are confusing me. SJ reported during the last quarter results that iPod has 92% of hdd based and 65% of all music players. Why this article said is 82% and 42%, are those figures for the whole year and SJ is talking about Q4 04 quarter only?

Close Name:Suffolkmina Posts: 2 Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Subject:

I guess the MP3 market is just started market, so that there isn't much information that we can really rely on.
Even when we can get projections about the whole MP3 market, we can't get trustful data for all kinds...
Now, we can listen to MP3 music on our cell phone, and some cell phone mfrs have come up with HDD and memory card slot on cell phones. If we get long-life batteries for our cell phone, we no longer need MP3 player unless we need to store some data.

Close Name:Mace Posts: 9023 Joined: 07 Aug 2003
Subject:

Quote
Suffolkmina wrote:
... Now, we can listen to MP3 music on our cell phone, and some cell phone mfrs have come up with HDD and memory card slot on cell phones. If we get long-life batteries for our cell phone, we no longer need MP3 player unless we need to store some data.
You have forgotten that there are guys like me who don't carry cell phone. Electronic gadgets are now a fashion/status symbol just like jewelry not another functional device.

View Name:Guest
Subject: It's surprising to see
View Name:Guest
Subject: full market share
Comment on this Article


You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.
Log in | Register | Having Problems? Reset TMO Cookies & Try Again
Username:   Password:   Log me on automatically each visit   

You are not logged in, and this post will appear as "Guest." Log in with your username and password from the TMO forums. If you do not have a username, you can register here.
Please note that guests are limited to including a maximum of two URLs per post.


Post A Comment
  Subject


  Your Comments



Please enter the word exactly as you see it in the image above. Registered users aren't prompted for this. Having trouble reading the image get a new one.


Recent Headlines - Updated Friday, May 16th, 2008

Fri., 8:00 PM
iPodObserver - Dr, Danger, Brickfilms, Narnia and More
5:10 PM
StrangeCharm - Explosions and Debris (Week of May 12)
4:15 PM
TMO's DealsOnTheWeb.com - 8GB iPod Touch: $229 Delivered
3:35 PM
Safari Suffers from "Carpet Bomb" Issue
2:55 PM
iPodObserver - Barack Obama's Smartphone of Choice
2:35 PM
Parallels Releases Update for Vista SP1 and XP SP3
1:00 PM
iPodObserver - AT&T: Back to Three iPhone Limit Per Customer
12:55 PM
Mac Gaming News - Macgamestore Intros Agatha Christie: Peril at End House
10:35 AM
Hot Forum Topic - The iPhone's Growing Global Reach
10:05 AM
Unparsed - I found Those Missing iPhones!
9:45 AM
Fone2Phone 2.01 Improves Performance, Cell Phone Support
9:20 AM
Apple Scores 2 Black Pencils at D&AD Awards
8:40 AM
Yahoo to Icahn: Get a Clue
8:05 AM
iPodObserver - Orange Gets Europe, Middle East, Africa iPhone Deal
7:30 AM
TMO Quick Tip - Quick Look: Web Archives
 

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

Apple Stock Quote

  • AAPL: $187.6201. Change Today: -2.1099.
  • (Prices delayed up to 20 minutes.)
  • Discuss in our Apple Finance Board

Hot Topics

Apple iTunes

Top Deals From DealsOnTheWeb