Determined that Apple’s iPod won’t have its own way in the MP3 market, Singapore’s Creative Labs has announced that unit sales of its digital audio players, including the high-profile Zen Micro, exceeded two million in the last quarter.
Based on this strong sales performance, Creative has revised upwards its revenue projections in the quarter by 45pc and adjusted its gross margin guidance to about 27pc to 28pc for the period. Creative is now expecting to achieve sales of more than US$360m, a sharp increase over sales of US$250m for the same fiscal period last year.
“Today’s announcement of our two million MP3 players sold in the quarter will come as a surprise to many who underestimated our marketing capability and didn’t believe that we could be such a strong contender to the Apple iPod,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “We just began shipping the Zen Micro in late November and it is taking the market by storm.”
The company won the Best of Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for its Zen Micro Photo, which was previewed at the CES in Las Vegas last week.
Creative Labs employs 380 people at its European headquarters in Ballycoolin, Dublin.
By Brian Skelly
