Interesting news/reviews/deals from the portable audio market
Streaming media charts, based on unique users: iTunes to pass RealPlayer by mid-2006 with just under 30M users, while still being second to Microsoft’s Windows Media Player with 80M users. Also:
RealPlayer’s userbase has remained steady over the last three year with 28M unique users.
Thanks to the built-in podcasting support “iTunes users tune in for an [...]
SanDisk: No. 2 seller of MP3 players in the US: they’ve sold 1M during the recent holiday quarter; that’s 13M less than Apple but apparently good enough to get them to the second place. They’re on the right track to keeping that place (no way to dethrone Apple I’m afraid) with their decent, feature-rich/low-cost lineup; [...]
There are some reports that Apple may not be using SigmaTel’s audio chipset for the upcoming Shuffle replacement (whenever that comes). AppleInsider reports:
In a research note released on Tuesday, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu said there is “potential risk” that Apple’s yet-to-be announced new and improved entry-level iPod will not incorporate components from semiconductor [...]
Finally! A company whose logo isn’t a white bitten fruit and posts positive financial results. We’re talking about Archos who owes its success to its powerful line of portable media players; powerful large-screen devices suited to video watching (and recording) such as the A700 (more AV700 coverage) and the AV500 (more AV500 coverage).
According to the [...]
All signs are leading to this, at least. According to Stuff Magazine, they’ve sacked the European PR team and moved the European marketing headquarters from Germany to an in-house department to Korea. Sales in the European continent are slim (were they ever rosy?), and this seems to be another victim of the iPod storm.
Basically the [...]
According to the Sunday Herald, Edinburgh-based Wolfson Microelectronics is set to release its latest audio chip, the WM8985, this week. What makes this chipset important is the fact that, according to the company’s statements, it increases power efficiency by 70%. It’s worth noting that Wolfson’s chipsets are used in the iPod (all generations so far, [...]
Jobs says Microsoft should come up with their own MP3 player: based on the sensible rationale that you can’t achieve perfect synergy unless you make both the hardware and software on your own.
What’s going to happen is that Microsoft is going to have to get into the hardware business of making MP3 players. This [...]
Napster reported they’ve doubled the customer base within a year by reaching 500,000 subscribers but the company may still be saying “bye, bye” to us soon. According to a Digital Music News report, all possible scenarios are considered within the company (massive layoffs, liquidation, fire sale). With the iTMS owning 83% of the market, there’s [...]
A report on the Korea Economic Daily, quoting an unnamed Samsung official, speaks of a contract that is to be signed during the first half of this year and exceed Samsung’s sales contract with Apple. Sony will be using the chips for its MP3 players—The Inquirer speaks of a 8GB one.
Samsung said the flash deal [...]
2006: $4.5Bn in sales for MP3 players this year: ”...MP3 players sales are seen climbing to $4.5 billion in 2006, with 30 percent of all MP3 players sold having video playback capability.”