Slash Lane
Apple's dominance unchecked
Piper Jaffray on Tuesday released the results of its 16th bi-annual Teen Survey, for which members of the firm visit several high schools across the country and survey students on their interest and buying patterns in portable media players, online music, and the iPhone.
The bottom line is that "Apple's dominance in the consumer electronics and online music markets is going seemingly unchecked," analyst Gene Munster told clients in a report outlying the study's findings. "We believe that the teen demographic is a critical component of long-term growth in the digital music and mobile markets."
iPhone
In particular, 8 percent of the 769 students surveyed said they already own an iPhone, with another 22 percent implying that they plan to purchase one in the next 6 months. That's up substantially from the firm's April survey in which 6 percent of students had iPhones but only 9 percent said they planned to purchase one in the next 6 months. What's more, of those students adding a mobile phone to their "wish lists," 33 percent penciled in an iPhone.
Munster said the findings suggest ample room for Apple to continue to build share amongst the teen sub-market and further his convictions that the company is well on its way to meeting a self-imposed goal of capturing 1 percent of the worldwide cell phone market during the 2008 calendar year.
iPod
In terms of digital media players, a resounding 87 percent of students said they own one of the devices, up from 80 percent increase during the fall of last year. As such, interest among those looking to buy a new player in the next twelve months has fallen to 37 percent from 47 percent.
Apple continues to dominate the market, with an 84 percent share, up from 80 percent last year. Deadlocked for second place are Microsoft and Sony, whose Zune and Walkman players are each clinging to a 3 percent share of the teenage market. Of those students who say they plan to purchase a new player in the next 12-months, 79 percent indicated they'd choose an iPod while 15 percent are eyeing a Zune — the highest response ever seen by the Microsoft player in the history of Piper Jaffray's Teen Survey.
iTunes
In general, the percentage of students downloading music over the internet remains relatively high at 80 percent, down 6 percent from April. However, 60 percent of those students are still using illegal peer-to-peer file sharing services instead of purchasing their songs legally. The good news for digital music store operators, artists and record labels is that illegal peer-to-peer usage has actually decreased 4 percent year-over-year.
While Piper Jaffray's April survey saw iTunes use amongst teens start to plateau at around 80 percent after falling from a high of 91 percent in the fall of 2006, the Apple digital download service has since bounced back to reclaim a 93 percent share. Rival services from Yahoo, Rhapsody, and Amazon, which at one time seemed as if they'd give iTunes a run for its money among the teen demographic, have since lost their momentum, Munster told clients.
The analyst said the average age of students in the most recent Teen Survey was 16.2 years old, with 53 percent of the students being male and 47 percent being female.
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Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Charles Martin
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Andrew Orr
19 Comments
Perhaps Woz would like to interpret this data for us. ( ref previous article )
In my daughter's 7th grade class -- we're talking 12 to 13 year olds -- an astoundingly high proportion (perhaps upwards of two-thirds) own digital musc players. Every single one that I've seen is an iPod.
This is the kind of data that tells us that Apple is a long-term play. If you're in the stock for next five years, just ignore the current noise.
And, echoing the previous comment: Take that, Woz!
Of those students who say they plan to purchase a new player in the next 12-months, 79 percent indicated they'd choose an iPod while 15 percent are eyeing a Zune..
And Zero% outside the U.S.
Woz is clever, but he's been consistently wrong lately. He said Apple switching to Intel was a mistake, and Apple getting into the phone market was a mistake. He's a good engineer, but I wouldn't look to him for business advice.
Our granddaughter just turned 13 in August. She in the 80% group(s) that prefers APPLE products.
I think I know where's my social security check for August and December is going for the next 6 years. (She is the only grandchild, so at least I'm safe for the other 10 months of each year)
In my daughter's 7th grade class -- we're talking 12 to 13 year olds -- an astoundingly high proportion (perhaps upwards of two-thirds) own digital musc players. Every single one that I've seen is an iPod.
This is the kind of data that tells us that Apple is a long-term play. If you're in the stock for next five years, just ignore the current noise.
And, echoing the previous comment: Take that, Woz!
Completely right,
I'm 15 live in New York and about 16% of the students in my high school have an iPhone and 62% have BlackBerry's, and out of the ones that don't have an iPhone 97% have an iPod. You can see the hallway's lined up with little white headphones on everyones ears.
These are true statistics because we had a poll in our school and surveyed 600 students. (about 1/2 of our school)