NPD Numbers are out again, and in the month of December, Zune garnered a 10.2% market share for our category – 30gb devices. However, Zune is sold in more outlets than NPD reports on, so actual market share might be higher. Steve Ballmer actually estimated it around 20-25%, in a recent conversation with CNBC. Overall, sales are in line with our expectations, and we’re on track to sell 1 million units by the end of our fiscal year (June 30, 2007). Zune also achieved the number 2 spot in the category...

Interesting note in this article by Motley Fool (via MSNBC) about yesterday's widely reported Reuter's survey . You know, the one that surveyed 450 potential buyers of music players. The survey found that 35% of folks expressing interest in Zune see it as an upgrade to an existing player - as opposed to 18% for the iPod. And, 80% of respondents chose iPod as their first player (70% without being prompted). That's not that surprising to anybody around here - iPod is a great product with very strong...

So I'm actually more excited to eat pumpkin pie than turkey. But that's me. Anyways, no posts for a few days. A lot of folks have asked me, so how is Zune doing? Despite the iFanboy pleas that Zune is DOA; it's tanking, brown is ugly, etc, I can tell you that we are exactly where we hoped we'd be. That is, without sharing specific numbers after the first week of sales. We're all looking forward to a successful holiday retail season. We're also thinking in long term here. And hey, so are you ;) Anyways...

Today we're issuing a press release about Zune's launch date and price: November 14 in the U.S.; $249.99. Many people have asked about Zune Marketplace: A ZunePass (giving you access to millions of songs) will cost you $14.99 per month. If you want to buy a song individually it'll cost you 79 Microsoft Points (or 99 cents). My buddy Richard and I have talked before about pre-loaded content. Here's the full list: Audio Tracks · Band of Horses, “Wicked Gil” (Sub Pop Records) · Bitter:Sweet, “The Mating...