iPod shuffle snaps up 58% of the US market for flash-based MP3 players
A report by market research firm NPD concludes that Apple's iPod shuffle has gobbled up a full 58.2% of the US market for flash-based MP3 players in March, up from 43% in February (the bulk of Apple's sales were for the 512MB version of the shuffle). Whether Apple tapped into what has turned out to be a vastly underestimated demand for flash-based players, or simply employed their massive marketing muscle to get consumers lusting after a product that four months ago they didn't know they wanted is (it's probably a little bit of both), but what isn't up for debate is that Creative, iRiver, Sony, Rio, et al. seriously have their work cut out for them. At this point overtaking Apple isn't simply going to be a matter of adding extra features or pricing their players more competitively. You don't walk into an existing market and grab nearly 60% in two or three month (at least not usually), and a big part of how this happened is that Apple's self-contained system (i.e. iTunes and the iTunes Music Store) which "encourages" users to stay within it (you can bet that a lot of iPod shuffle buyers already owned a regular iPod or iPod mini), combined with an incredibly uncommon amount of cultural cachet that is impossible to buy.
[Via TUAW]
