In spite of the largely bad reviews the Microsoft Zune has received, the company expects its new portable media player to sell more than 1 million units by the end of June. The software maker said Wednesday it was pleased with response to the device.

“We’re forecasting just over 1 million units for the fiscal year,” said Jason Reindorp, marketing director for Zune at Microsoft. “We feel pretty good about that number.”

The Zune went on sale in mid-November. In its first days, the Zune ranked towards the top of Amazon.com’s electronics sales chart. It has since dropped, and according to NPD’s recent ratings, the Zune now holds about a 2 percent market share.

“Microsoft has a very realistic view of the landscape,” Reindorp adds. “There wasnt any foolish thought of coming in and turning the whole market around.”

IDC analyst Susan Kevorkian said that Microsoft’s projections are similar to her estimates. “We think that Microsoft had relatively modest expectations in terms of unit shipments and sales going into the Zune launch.”

Kevorkian expects Microsoft to sell a half-million of the devices by the end of December.

via CNET News.com