SanDisk might be a force in the portable media player market and now looking to get into the solid-state drive arena, but lets remember that the company was first and foremost a maker of memory and storage products, and they aren’t (yet) leaving those origins behind. At CeBIT, the company announced two new portable storage offerings: new SDHC cards with capacities up to 8 GB, and SanDisk Mobile Premiere, 1 and 2 GB microSD cards specifically aimed at the mobile phone market.
Tag Archive: digital music players
Direct-Mail DVD Subscribers on the Rise
According to a new report from research and strategic marketing firm The Diffusion Group, these households constitute a fertile target market for vendors pushing new digital devices and services.
TDG’s latest report, Direct-Mail DVD Subscribers: Profiling the “Blockbuster Busters”, finds households that subscribe to DM-DVD services demonstrate a much higher ownership or proclivity to purchase both fixed and portable consumer electronic devices, as well as the services that enable these devices. Most notably, their interest in portable digital electronics such as portable media centers and digital music players is well above average.
Best Buy to Carry Apple Mac mini
“Apple rolled out the Mac mini, which is sold without a monitor, keyboard or computer mouse, in January, taking solid aim at making its products more affordable for the masses. It’s the cheapestMacintosh to date.
The mini is aimed principally at consumers who already own one or more of Apple’s popular iPod digital music players and have a Windows or a Macintosh computer at home. “
CompUSA also currently sells the Mac mini.
Read more at Reuters
Related Stories:
Apple Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle, Worth the Hype?
Best Buy to Eliminate Rebates
Commodore Computer Brand Gets Sold
“Tulip Computers, based in Amersfoort, Netherlands, agreed to sell its subsidiary Commodore International for $32.6 million, in a letter of intent announced Wednesday. The deal gives Yeahronimo Media Ventures, founded in July by SATXS Communications and Yeahronimo NV, control over the Commodore brand that has a long history of computer-related products. “
There is a possibility that future PC products by Commore could still be a reality, but most likely we will see digital music players being sold under the famed brand.
Read more at PC World
Rio Audio Comments On Apple iPod
Rio’s vice-president for marketing, Dan Torres, recently spoke with BusinessWeek Online reporter Amy Tsao about his company’s plans to catch the competition. Some of the questions Dan answers include:
Q: How are you competing with Apple’s iPod?
Q: What about Dell (DELL ) and Microsoft?
Q: What will happen to the market if Apple comes out with a flash-memory-based player?
Q: Is consolidation coming among makers of digital music players?
Q: What kind of growth do you expect from Rio players?
Read more at BusinessWeek
Found VIA MacMinute
NewerTech Develops iPod FM Transmitter
The new “RoadTrip!” model allows users of Apple Computer’s iPod and other digital music players to listen to their favorite audio files through a car stereo system using the 87.7 FM radio frequency.
The original “RoadTrip!” model broadcasts using the 107.7 FM frequency. Both are available at www.macsales.com for $19.99.
“Offering a second model of the ‘RoadTrip!’ transmitter is a way for us to give customers a choice when it comes to where they’ll be tuning their FM dial,” said Larry O’Connor, president of OWC. “We’ve had no problems with the 107.7 FM frequency reported, so offering an 87.7 FM choice simply allows another option for our customers when choosing the very best car adapter for the Apple iPod or other audio source device.”
JVC Launches Digital Media Cameras In Japan
From JVC’s press release:
Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) announced today the Japanese launch of two new palm-size digital media cameras that shoot 60 minutes of DVD-quality video or thousands of high resolution stills using a high capacity 4GB Microdrive card that contains a one inch removable hard disk drive.
JBL On Tour Music Box Set To Travel
Slightly larger than an eyeglass case and roughly the size of two iPods(R), JBL On Tour is the ultimate addition to any digital music player, personal CD player, or laptop or desktop computer.
JBL On Tour’s portability encourages consumers to share their music, providing them with sound at home, at their desks or on the road. The combination of unique and innovative design with advanced speaker technology provides a clean and clear audio experience. The portable audio system utilizes a stereo pair of Odyssey(R) transducers and features six watts of total power. On Tour comes equipped with touch volume controls, an integrated protective cover and stand, and white-chrome accents. The use of four standard AAA batteries provides more than 24 hours of operation at normal listening levels.
Apple’s iPod Mini Goes World-Wide July 24th
In March, the company said it would delay the international launch of the player due to stronger-than-expected U.S. demand and tight supplies of the hard drive, which is at the core of the player.
Apple had originally planned to start worldwide shipping in April. Earlier this year, the company said it had 100,000 preorders for the iPod mini, a smaller version of the popular iPod player that is about the length and width of a business card and holds about 1,000 songs.
iPod Still Leading Market, But By How Much?
Business Week has posted an interesting article about Apple’s iPod and market share this week. It states that while Apple says the iPod can claim from 40% to 50% of the market share of digital audio players, the iPod’s global market share may actually fall well below the 25% mark.
According to the article, very little good data exists on international sales of consumer electronics — digital-music players included. With the exception of Japan, information out of Asia is sketchy. By some estimates the Chinese market for digital-music players hit 1.8 million units in 2003, but given the chaotic nature of the Middle Kingdom’s economy, that number could well fall short. Good sales data in Latin America, Eastern Europe, India, South Korea, and Taiwan remain hard to come by.
