James Delahunty
30 Aug 2005 13:25
Creative Technology, one of the first companies in the world to produce MP3 players has been awarded a patent for the interface used on many digital music players on the market. Creative said not only does the patent apply to its own MP3 players, but it also applies to Apple's iPod music players also. Creative is Apple's biggest rival and the company is seeking to out market Apple.
Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo had said the company was taking aim straight at Apple and that he MP3 war had started. Currently Apple's iPod has about 80% of the MP3 player market. The patent that was awarded to Creative details how files are organised on an MP3 player. For example, the basic MP3 player would first show a list of artists, when an artist is selected, a list of albums would appear and then finally a list of tracks on the album.
Creative applied for the patent back in January 2001 and was awarded the patent on 9th August. "The first portable media player based upon the user interface covered in our Zen Patent was our Nomad Jukebox MP3 player," said Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo. "The Apple iPod was only announced in October 2001, 13 months after we had been shipping the Nomad Jukebox based upon the user interface covered by our Zen Patent."
Creative is hoping to take a slice out of the iPod's share of the market with its newer Zen models, which support video playback.
Source:
BBC News