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| Friday, March 18, 2005 |
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Samsung seeks slice of Apple iPod pie
Samsung unveiled on Thursday six new portable MP3 players, aimed at helping it triple sales this year.
The world's third-largest maker of mobile phones and the biggest maker of memory chips already sells eight MP3 players. The six new models are expected to be released in the first half of the year.
The upcoming models range from one with 256MB of flash memory to one with a 30GB hard drive capable of holding about 7,500 songs.
Samsung and big Asian brands Sony and Creative Technology, as well as PC heavyweights Dell and Gateway, have their sights set on Apple Computer's juicy market position.
Apple's popular iPod music player and iTunes music store have a 70 percent share of the global digital music player and music download markets. In the United States, Apple's market share is 80 percent.
"We aim to sell more than 5 million MP3 players this year versus 1.7 million sold last year and will seek various strategic alliances with content providers such as Microsoft to boost sales," Kim Suh-kyum, a Samsung vice president, said at a press conference.
Samsung's new pocket-size models have color screens and radio tuners. Some have features allowing people to watch music videos or take digital photographs.
Sales of MP3 players are set to grow 57 percent this year after more than doubling in 2004, according to market research group iSuppli, which predicts sales will more than double by 2009.
Samsung said it was looking to grab a 10 percent share in the United States this year, Kim said. He wouldn't say how much it accounted for in 2004. |
| posted by Perimbean @ 1:00 AM |
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