[ProDigit]

That would be really hard to believe... Statements above might be regional.
The Ipod hasn't really been heard of in Europe untill people started buying the first Ipod with a harddrive, which was in 2005-2006?

Sure it exsisted before,but like a reader,you seldomly saw anyone with one walking around...

I mean,Apple can post whatever it wants,
But if you look arround you you'll understand that those numbers might be regional, and certainly not international.
In fact, Many many and many people I know didn't buy an Ipod until the release of the Iphone,which was a terrific success in France;partly out of fear because IPod had this thing that you needed to buy your music via a ITunes,which people feared was only working on an Apple.
Nomatter what apple thinks, but the majority of people still go with a PC (IBMClone) above an apple computer,and preferred to have an MP3 player that they could play their self gotten MP3 files on.

Now I know Itunes isn't limited to Apple computers, and IPods do play back normal MP3 files, but that was not the thought of many people at it's release.

From the Iphone, the Ipods streamed in Europe.
(The Iphone was released early 2007, if I'm right...)
Maybe Europe was a late bloomer,but I can't imagine poorer countries like Asian, Middle eastern and African nations people having an IPod as their first MP3 player!
In fact the asian market was primarily dominated by their own products; I'm not sure, but I think Apple is an American,not Asian company.
Either way, the numbers you provide do not measure up to international or even National sales of the Ipod,unless almost 'every' mp3 player is named an 'IPod'.

Most 'free MP3 players' you got with a magazine subscription, or because you bought a good television of a certain brand, where definitely not Ipods.

All I can say is what I've seen in Europe, that Ipod has a significant growth the last 2 to 3 years, but before 2005, they sold just as many mp3 players as any other brand out there. It had to hit against Panasonic,which offers waay more options for the price, Sandisk,Cowon, I-river (which basically threw their MP3 players in your face at 25$ per piece compared to Apple's 250$ Ipod), Sony, Samsung, and about any other brand out there (including Microsoft which also offered an MP3 player).