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MP3 players: latest craze in market |
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Saturday, 27 August 2005 |
MP3
players: latest craze in market
Economic Times - India
NEW DELHI: MP3 players are the latest electronic toy to hit the Indian
consumer market big time. While globally, iPods have attained iconic status, the
market for memory-based portable audio products, which basically don’t require a
cassette or a compact disc, has picked up sharply in India since September ‘04.
However, with some price corrections — up to 25per cent in the last quarter —
brands in the category expect to witness over 100per cent volume growth this
year to take the market to about 2 lakh units. For the consumers there is more
in store as companies are looking at expanding their portfolio during the
upcoming festival season. A 20-GB hard disk-based product, which can store about
5,000 songs and retailing at around Rs 25,000-30,000 last year, is now down to
the Rs 20,000-Rs 23,000-level.
The prominent brands are Apple, Samsung, Sony, iRiver and Creative. Others like
Philips plan to come in later this year. While there is no organised data on the
market, but the total population of these gizmos is pegged at 1 lakh units with
a big chunk in the grey market.
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