Zune Revenue Drops, iPod Still Dominates
Microsoft’s revenue revealed a significant drop in its earnings from the Zune. The data showed a 54 percent decline compared to last year. Note that this is based from the Zune platform, which includes the Zune Marketplace and the Zune Social community along with the portable media player itself. The cause? Lower sales. Apple is still partially responsible for that.
However, the iPod continues to outsell the Zune by a mile: Apple shipped 22.7 million iPods in the quarter ended Dec. 27, up 3 percent compared to a year earlier, it said in its 10-Q filing on Thursday. While shipments increased, iPod revenue for the fourth quarter was down 16 percent on a year earlier, as a result of price cuts and the introduction of cheaper models, Apple said.
With Microsoft cutting 5,000 jobs, one has to wonder what this means for Zune as a brand. Will the software giant continue to push the platform as a competitor to Apple or will it shift its resources to some other venture? We’ll keep a close eye on this one.
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