NPD: iPod share soars in holidays, Zune struggles

Apple's share of holiday sales has seen impressive growth compared to a year ago, according to an NPD report obtained today by Mercury News. The stats firm notes that Apple's control of the market increased sharply from 42 to 57.3 percent of all non-Apple retail stores in the US, defying initial worries the iPod maker's substantial lead would erode in light of waning novelty and the introduction of Microsoft's Zune.

NPD's findings additionally reveal that the increase has hurt rivals. Storage firm SanDisk, which surprised many by usurping all of Apple's longtime challengers to reach second place, fell from 22.1 percent of the holiday 2005 sales to 19.2 this past year. Other competitors are struggling to even approach this smaller number, the Mercury News story indicates. Confirming earlier estimates, the Zune captured only 2.8 percent of sales at these same stores in spite of its developer's marketing efforts, and was in fact eclipsed by Creative's largely stagnant 3.4 percent share.