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Analyst: MP3 market’s problems aren’t Apple’s
Creative Technology’s warning of sagging demand for its devices is no indication that the MP3 player market as a whole is suffering, a Wall Street analyst said Monday. Creative earlier today cut its fourth-quarter sales outlook and said it will have an operating loss, citing weaker-than-expected demand for its products.
“We believe that iPod’s continued dominance of the portable audio market, especially as shuffle gains market share for flash-based players, is likely having an impact on Creative,” Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster said in a research note obtained by iLounge. “In addition to Apple’s market share gains in the flash segment, we believe the June quarter is a seasonally slow time for this market and we do not expect blow-out iPod numbers from Apple (expect iPod units of 5.5 million for June, up from 5.3 million in March). We do, however, believe that Apple will significantly benefit from back-to-school and holiday buying in the September and December quarters.”
Munster also said that his recent retail survey shows that Apple’s presence in stores remains significantly greater than Creative. “We spoke with MP3 player sales reps at 100 U.S. retail stores about what portable audio devices they recommend to customers and why,” he said. “58% of reps recommend some variation of iPod, while only 16% of salespeople would point their customer to a Creative device. We believe these checks provide another indication that Apple is holding its ground, if not gaining momentum, as the leader in portable audio.”
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1
This is pretty funny considering that I remember reading stories a few months back about how Apple won’t have another great back-to-school/holiday season like they did in previous years. Personally, I do hope something happens because Apple needs some competition to really better the iPod—they haven’t “wow’ed” me since the 3gen iPod.
Fishes,
narco.
Posted by narco in Burbank on June 27, 2005 at 8:03 PM (PDT)
2
Too funny…I place about much credence on a Wall Street analyst as I do politicians—little or nothing. Just another analyst doing the Wall Street spin/hustle. Heck, I “believe” in many things—that doesn’t mean their right.
Posted by FahrenheiPod 451 on June 27, 2005 at 9:21 PM (PDT)
3
Analysts and their opinions are a dime-a-dozen. All they are typically any good at are jumping on bandwagons and spin doctoring when they miss the boat.
However much I like iPods (and I do like ‘em a LOT), there are some things to be said for the stuff that Creative has made. I liked my old Zen, even if the interface wasn’t slick and simple like my 3G or 4G, it sure seeemed like it could do a lot more with the onboard library than Apple’s firmware (like search and detailed parsing, for instance). I still use it on occasion at home (hooked to a set of Monsoon MM-1000s) and even though it’s like it’s Creative’s GMC Yukon in comparison to Apple’s Boxster (no stinkin’ hoydee-toydee BMW comparisons for me), the Zen has a utility to it that I miss more often than I thought I would whenever I use my 4G. Plus, I swear it sounds better than the Apple, though not enough to make me want to lug it around again. And I won’t even go into the sacrifices I’ve had to put up with when I retired my trusty old iRiver FP with the Shuffle.
The competition make some pretty good units…but they just don’t offer the overall complete deal like iPod and iTunes does. But I do agree Apple needs a thorn in its side to liven up their products. I really like the 4G over my old 3G, but the Photo was and still is a lame, yawner concept to me and the Shuffle has been really a slacker design even though I use mine nearly every day (size/weight DOES count in this market, which to me is the only real thing going for it…well, that and iTunes).
Posted by flatline response on June 28, 2005 at 12:50 AM (PDT)