Microsoft Corp. said Wednesday that it would sell more than 1 million Zune digital media players by June 30, giving its first forecast for the device and showing how it plans to stack up against Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.
That tally should allow Microsoft to meet its goal of becoming the second-biggest maker of media players with a 30-gigabyte hard drive, said Bryan Lee, a vice president in Microsoft's entertainment business. Lee declined to say how many Zune players Microsoft has sold.
By comparison, Apple will sell about 40 million iPods in the next three quarters, according to an estimate from analyst Benjamin Reitzes of financial services firm UBS. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, expects to trail Apple for some time, Lee said.
"We were not expecting to be close to them," Lee said about Apple. "This is a decade-long effort for us."
Sales so far are about what Microsoft expected, Lee said. He said Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple's sales were aided by the company's iPod nano and flash-memory devices, products Microsoft has yet to match.
