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Creative sold 2 million MP3 players in Q1

Creative has announced that it has sold 2 million MP3 players in the first quarter of 2005, a number that is equal to the holiday quarter of last year. The company did admit however that it is feeling financial pressure from Apple's strategic pricing of its iPod music players. "This was our second consecutive quarter of selling two million MP3 players, an achievement that further positions us as an industry leader in the explosive MP3 market," Sim Wong Hoo, Creative's CEO said in prepared remarks.

He said the company will continue to aggressively price its players but also warned that it may move profit margins lower in the short-term. Craig McHugh, president of Creative said that the company is now starting to feel the pressure from Apple's pricing strategies. He said that the price drops in the iPod Mini were larger and the aggressive pricing of the iPod Shuffle was lower than expected.



The company is hoping that rises in sales will help it to get better deals with suppliers so it can lower the cost of manufacturing the players and reduce the decrease in profits. Creative struck deals with Circuit City and Best Buy to carry the Zen Micro player which substantially increased the products availability. Apple has been selling iPods at Best Buy since 2002.

Source:
Betanews

Written by: James Delahunty @ 22 Apr 2005 15:51

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• 6 comments

• c4iscool

  i care because........that's right I don't.

  22.4.2005 18:20 #1

• Dela

  OK....... then why comment?
  

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  22.4.2005 18:31 #2

• ozzy1

  Well I care because i want creative to keep going. I had an ipod mini and just sold it and bought a zen micro. I think the only reason people buy ipods anyway is because they call all mp3 players ipods. My zen gets called an ipod all the time by friends which annoys me.

  23.4.2005 02:41 #3

• punx777

  i feel ya heart to heart ozz.
  
  thank you (whoever posts the articals) for posting comments about mp3 players other then ipod.
  
  i love my micro to death.
  
  does anyone know how many ipods sold that quarter? i know its likely alot more, i just want to compare.
  
  i HATE being in nebraska. i had to travel 3 hours to buy my zen.

  23.4.2005 06:12 #4

• punx777

  "Unit sales of iPods totaled 4.6 million in the first quarter of 2005" ( from some apple page)
  
  Creative is really comin up. still half of apples, but you have to figure in how unadvertised the zen are. You can get an ipod just about anywhere, but zen micros are a little harder to come by.

  23.4.2005 06:24 #5

• wheelman7

  I wouldn't buy anything other than a Zen Micro for MP3's because they make the best audio eqipment in the world... just look at their soundblaster cards and 5.1 to 7.1 speaker systems. UNMATCHABLE!

  23.4.2005 10:31 #6