If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
GameStop, the popular videogame retail chain with more than 4,500 locations across the country, will no longer carry Microsoft Zune portable music players.
The recent announcement by GameStop is yet another strike against Microsoft Zune, which has consistently failed to challenge Apple iPod in the portable music player market.
Since its launch in 2006, Microsoft Zune has tried unsuccessfully to claim a portion of the music player market share from Apple, with new additions such as its online video store, the Zune Marketplace and more. But consumers have been slow to respond to all the changes and additions.
The move to stop selling Zune players is unlikely to affect GameStop, whose sales are largely from video games. However, it may hurt Zune sales as GameStop has a large distribution channel with hundreds of stores across the country.
Microsoft has sold 2 million Zune players since its release in November 2006 while Apple has sold more than 10.6 million iPods during the first quarter of 2008 alone. Due to low customer demands for Microsoft Zune media players, GameStop has pulled the device from its retail stores. GameStop will continue to offer the music players online through its website, but only until they have exhausted its stock.
“We have decided to exit the Microsoft Zune player category because it did not have the appeal we had initially anticipated,” said a GameStop spokesperson. It (also) did not fit with our product mix. The decision was made a month ago.
Other big-box retailers – both online and offline – will continue carrying Zune players allowing Microsoft to continue a strong retail presence at popular stores such as Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Amazon.
Microsoft Zune players are estimated to currently have approximately 4% of the overall market share for digital media players.
Source: The Channel Wire.
photo credit: robertnelson
