Most iPod owners planning to buy another MP3 player will consider Microsoft’s Zune, according to ABI Research.

ABI says that many prospective MP3 player buyers‚Äîeven owners of iPods‚Äîwould be likely to choose Microsoft’s Zune player.

“Our conclusion,” says principal analyst Steve Wilson, “is that iPod users don’t display the same passionate loyalty to iPods that Macintosh users have historically shown for their Apple products.” Only 15% of iPod owners said they were “not very likely” or “not at all likely” to choose Zune.

On the other hand, some might conclude that ABI asked loaded questions to come up with a controversial answer that would help them sell some research reports.

“Let us all take a moment to laugh,” says Ars Technica’s Jacqui Cheng. “Does anybody believe this?”

Jupiter Research came to very different conclusions from ABI, and predicts that the iPod would remain dominant for at least 12 to 18 months.

“Despite the coming of Zune, the return of closed-loop digital music service-device combinations, and music phones on the horizon, the iPod should not lose significant market share in the next 12 to 18 months,” according to Jupiter research director Michael Gartenberg.

Others have called Zune’s WiFi features useless and predicted that the Zune will be the biggest flop of 2007. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has gone as far as suggesting that iPods beat Zunes for connecting with the ladies. We’ve identified 7 things Microsoft needs to do to fix the Zune.
For its report, ABI asked 1725 teenage and adult US residents whether they planned to buy an MP3 player in the next 12 months. Of those responding that they were likely to do so, 58% of those identifying themselves as existing iPod owners and 59% of those who owned other brands said they would be “somewhat likely” or “extremely likely” to choose a Microsoft Zune player over an iPod or another brand of MP3 player.