iPod shuffle dominates Flash-based music market

Congrats to The Mac Observer for being the first to report that Apple's iPod shuffle now owns 58% of the flash-based digital media player market, after less than 6 months on the market. Not too shabby! The news comes from Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, who recently was interviewed by Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich.

In a report to clients released today and obtained by TMO, Milunovich said the Apple executive gave him "preliminary March results from research marketing firm NPD
(which) showed the shuffle's market share rose from 43% in February to 58% in March, what Mr. Milunovich characterized as a stunning figure."

Other highlights of the report include statements regarding Apple's 90% market share in hard disk-based players (and that's probably not even including the 6 that I own!) and more than a 70% music store market share with iTunes as of March.

For more info on what Oppenheimer and the analysts have to say about the impact of musical cell phones, wireless and video capabilities of future iPods and upcoming Apple TV commercials, head over to The Mac Observer for the complete article.