NPD

NPD pegs AirPods unit share in December to 2 percent of headphone market

Market research firm Slice Intelligence recently estimated that the $159 AirPods earphones, which launched on December 13, have managed to capture one out of each four dollars spent online on wireless headphones during December 2016, beating Apple's own premium audio brand Beats which took a Slice-estimated 15.4 percent share of the wireless headphone market.

But according to NPD Group's December 2016 Weekly Retail Tracking Service data cited by CNET, Slice's data paints an incomplete picture of the wireless headphone market. According to NPD's own findings, AirPods have captured a modest two percent of the market in units and three percent in dollars.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus launch drives record accessory sales

Records keep piling for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, which according to research firm NPD, were responsible for driving accessory sales in the US to new highs, reaching a quarter of a billion dollars in the two weeks that followed the launch of the devices:

U.S. mobile phone accessory sales reached record levels following the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Accessory sales for the two weeks after the launch were 43 percent higher than the two weeks prior, reaching $249 million, according to The NPD Group Weekly Tracking Service.

For more details, read the full press release here.

Apple picks up ground on rivals in US smartphone race on strong Christmas quarter iPhone sales

Although we won't get to see some cold, hard numbers in terms of the iPhone's market performance until January 27, when Apple is scheduled to deliver its earnings results for the calendar 2013 holiday quarter, it already looks like the "disappointing" dual-iPhone launch has altered the landscape in the United States in Apple's favor.

Research firm NPD on Thursday published its survey of U.S. smartphone ownership, showing the Apple handset growing its share of domestic customers to 42 percent, a notable jump from the 35 percent share in the year-ago quarter...

Surprise, Apple continues to lead the pack in US online movie rentals and purchases

Most folks are in agreement that Apple revolutionized the digital music industry, and the music industry as a whole, when it launched its iTunes store in April of 2003. At the time, there was no other service offering easy access to digital tracks for $0.99.

And I would argue that it did the same thing for digital movies and TV shows when it added them to iTunes in 2005 and 2006. No one came close to what Apple was doing in the space back then. And judging by the latest numbers, that still holds true today...

NPD: Apple now one-fifth of U.S. consumer tech sales

Apple was responsible for one out over every five dollars spent on consumer electronics in the U.S. during 2012, a market research firm announced Tuesday. This while overall consumer electronics sales fell for the second year in a row.

The iPhone and iPad maker also ranked as the third largest U.S. consumer electronics retailer, just behind Best Buy and Walmart. Amazon and Staples rounded out and industry where only smartphones and tablets saw revenue gains last year...

NPD: iPhone 5 was top selling smartphone in the US last quarter

Strategy Analytics reported earlier today that Apple passed Samsung as the top US mobile phone vendor for the first time ever last quarter. The move was attributed to the company's big holiday push and strong iPhone 5 sales.

How strong? Well according to the NPD Group, Apple's latest handset was the top selling smartphone in the final quarter of last year. It accounted for 43% of all iPhone sales, and nearly 2/3 of all post-paid smartphones above $199...

NPD: iTunes dominates digital movies as physical media dies a slow death

Research firm NPD today issued a report highlighting Apple's lead concerning electronic sell through (EST) of digital movies. Now, EST comprised just sixteen percent of the larger video on demand (VOD) revenue throughout the 2012 calendar year.

At the same time, iTunes dominated the EST market with a 45 percent share. Amazon was #2 with eighteen percent, followed by the $3 Walmart-owned Vudu (fifteen percent), #4 Xbox Video (fourteen percent) and Others taking up the remaining eight percent of the market.

Movies on Blu-ray and DVD discs? These accounted for a still respectable 61 percent of home video spending on movies, excluding Netflix and other movie-streaming subscriptions. However, that figure is notably down from 64 percent in 2011, despite average prices of Blu-ray movies falling seven percent to $19.97 per unit. Steve Jobs was right, Blu-ray indeed is "a bag of hurt"...

Tablets to crush notebooks in 2013 as PCs become trucks

The argument over whether tablets should be classified as PCs could soon be moot. Shipments of devices such as Apple's iPad are expected to overtake notebook PCs in 2013. The cause: tablet (iPad) shipments are growing by double-digit percentages while PC demand is falling off a cliff - even in emerging markets...

NPD: consumers find current ‘smart’ TVs a little too smart

The year is now 2013, and according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, Apple is going to release a new television product in the next 6 months. Of course, you can't always believe what analysts say. But you can't always ignore them either.

The 20+ year senior researcher believes that Apple's TV device will feature a completely rebuilt remote control and a UI that makes finding content a lot easier than current solutions. And judging by data from a new NPD survey, it would be a hit...

NPD: Low-cost smartphone market to double through 2016

It's ironic, but the Asian-Pacific region, where many iPhone parts are produced, is a hotbed for an explosion of smartphones priced at less than $150. In a new report, shipments of low-cost smartphones are expected to climb to 311 million units by 2016, up from just 4.5 million now. What's more, by 2016, low-cost smartphones will account for 29 percent of all smartphone sales, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Android - not Apple - is leading the charge with its open-source operating system...

The iPhone remains America’s best-selling handset, but Apple must double down on prepaid

Though Android is peaking in the United States, globally Google's platform is widening its lead over the iPhone and in the second quarter of this year accounted for an IDC-estimated two-thirds of all smartphones sold, mainly thanks to Samsung whose Android handsets represented 44 percent of all Android smartphone shipments.

A new survey by NPD sheds more light on market trends. See, postpaid smartphone units remained flat in Q2 2012 compared to the year-ago quarter. All of the growth in smartphones came as a result of prepaid smartphone unit volume almost doubling on an annual basis...