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Sony takes bite out of Apple's iPod in Japan |
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Monday, 18 July 2005 |
Sony takes bite out of Apple's iPod in Japan
Reuteurs
TOKYO (Reuters) - Don't call it a comeback yet, but Sony Corp. has a new
lineup of digital music players that are slicing into the popularity of Apple
Computer's iPod device in Japan.
Apple is still squashing Sony in Europe and North America, where the iPod has
achieved iconic status and a big selling point is the availability of iTunes, an
easy-to-use music downloading service that has not yet been launched in Japan.
While Apple remains the top seller of hard drive players in Japan, there has
been a decisive momentum swing in the Japanese market, with Sony (6758.T: Quote,
Profile, Research) securing the top position for memory-type players in both May
and June, knocking Apple and its iPod shuffle device into second place.
Translating that success overseas will not be easy, but boosting sales in Japan
is an important first step for Sony as it tries to reclaim the lead in the
portable audio market it helped pioneer with the Walkman cassette player 26
years ago.
"There is no question that Sony has the potential of being much more
competitive," said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, a U.S.-based
research firm. "It could emerge as a more formidable rival to Apple over the
next three years."
Launched worldwide in March and April, Sony's new lineup of music players
includes several models equipped with flash memory chips able to store 256, 512
megabytes or 1 gigabyte of data, and two players with hard disk drives.
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