58% of iPod Owners Will Consider Zune

[Zunerama Ed.]

ABI research surveyed 1,725 teenage and adult US residents.

Of those planning to buy a new MP3 player in the next 12 months, 58% of iPod owners said they would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an iPod or another brand of MP3 player.

For owners of players other than iPod, about the same percentage - 59% - indicated they would be somewhat likely or extremely likely to choose Zune over other choices.

Says Wilson, "Apple needs a new high-end device that works really well and looks really cool, because other brands are catching up."

LINK: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/061101/20061101005644.html?.v=1

[Balboa]

ABI research is a serious research company, and to get these kinds of results is starting to blow holes in my theories about iPod loyalty...

Sounds good for Zune.

[Zunerama Ed.]

This is the first of two Zunerama blog stories related to this survey:

Over half of iPod owners would switch to Zune

Independent research conducted in October indicates that over half of iPod owners would likely switch to Zune when they buy a new player, according to Yahoo Biz.

58% of iPod owners that are planning to buy a new player in the next year would be "somewhat likely" or "extremely likely" to choose a Zune over an iPod or any other player.

ABI Research, an independent research firm, surveyed 1,725 teenage and adult US residents in this study.

Interestingly, for owners of players other than iPod, the percentage was about the same: with 59% indicating that they would be somewhat likely or extremely likely to choose Zune over other choices.

Only 15% of iPod owners said they were "not very likely" or "not at all likely" to choose Zune.

"Our conclusion," says principal analyst Steve Wilson, "is that iPod users don't display the same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple products."

I called ABI Research this morning, with questions about the survey. We'd like to know more about how survey respondents were selected, how Zune was described to the respondents, and demographic information.

ABI also confirmed with Zunerama this morning that the research was independent, and not commissioned by any organization. ABI sells their research through subscriptions such as their Consumer Electronics research service.

As we learn more details, we'll post updates here. But this is a very promising sign for Zune's prospects.

[Zunerama Ed.]

Zunerama Exclusive: iPod-owner survey details


Surprising survey results were released this morning by ABI - indicating that 58% of iPod owners planning to purchase a new portable media player said they were "very likely" or "extremely likely" to switch to Zune. (See our previous blog entry.)

We were curious about how the survey drew those responses, and followed up with ABI for additional details.

In telephone and email communications with ABI, Zunerama has learned that the survey respondents were asked the following three questions:
- (a) Which brand(s) of MP3/portable media player do you currently use?
- (b) How likely are you to purchase a new MP3/portable media player in the next 12 months?
- (c) When shopping for your next portable media player, how likely would you be to choose Zune over other competitors?

OK, so far so good. No leading questions there. (Although, it would be fascinating to know what the results would have been if "iPod" had been substituted for Zune in the survey question.)

We asked ABI how many of the respondents replied "What's a Zune?" to question (c). ABI is checking and will get back to us.

We asked about demographics, and ABI indicated that the male/female split was close to 50/50. Income of respondents broke down as follows: 64% between $25k and $100k; 6% didn't say; and the remainder were (you guessed it) either below $25k or above $100k.

We asked for a sex and location breakdown, and ABI is checking if that information is available.

This sheds a little light on the survey. As we learn more, we'll keep you posted.

[daveg]

Nice follow-through on getting those specifics from ABI.

I find it hard to believe at 58% too, but even if it's half that much, it bodes mighty well for Zune.