Although it doesn't come close to Apple's (AAPL) iPod, which has sold 39 million in the last year, Microsoft (MSFT) feels confident that they can sell 1 million of its new Zune music players in the first half of 2007.
Zune, which sells for $250 and whose 30 gigabyte hard drive can hold 7,500 songs, debuted in November with not everyone who bought one giving rave reviews. In the Holiday shopping melee Zune has gone from No. 2 among all MP3 music players during its first week on the shelves, to No. 5 during the "Black Friday" week of Thanksgiving.
Apple, SanDisk Corp. (SNDK) and Creative Technology Ltd.(CREAF) are way ahead of the Zune in Amazon.com (AMZN) sales, according to this MSNBC.com article. Sales aren't helped by the fact that the Zune is only available in the U.S.
Bryan Lee, corporate vice president for Microsoft’s entertainment group is quoted in the article as stating Microsoft expects to eventually "be the leader" in the higher-end music category, especially once they do begin to sell them internationally.
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