In mid November 2006, Microsoft released Zune, their brand of portable media player in the US markets. The product was targeted to compete with the popular Apple iPod. The launch model of Zune, included a 30 GB hard drive, built in FM tuner and a 3 inch screen. Microsoft attempted to differentiate their product from the competition by adding a built in Wi-Fi that allows Zune users to wirelessly share songs, playlists and pictures with other Zunes. Microsoft has acknowledged in pre-launch articles their realization of the huge challenge in trying to crack into the digital music player market and their market share expectations were more long term in nature. Since the launch, Microsoft has released their targeted forecast to sell over 1 million units by June 2007.

PC Pitstop took a look at the prevalence of the Zune software on PCs that ran their on-line diagnostic tests since the launch. While the results are preliminary, Zune was only found on a modest 0.22% of the total PCs in December 2006. By comparison, iTune software was found on over 26% of the PC's tested in December 2006. It appears that Microsoft definitely has an uphill battle in this market.

Prevalence of iTunes vs. Zune Software

Prevalence of Zune by PC Type

Prevalence of Zune by PC Expertise

Prevalence of Zune by World Wide Region