James Delahunty
27 Aug 2007 17:51
According to In-Stat research, increased broadband penetration, declining price points, and a growing catalogue of online audio and video content will ensure the market for MP3 players and portable media players (PMPs) will remain strong over the next 5 years. According to In-Stat, as of today, the main reason consumers are buying portable MP3 players and video-capable PMPs today is still for the devices' audio playback capability.
"Only 11% of survey respondents say they will purchase a PMP primarily for its video playback function," says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. "Still, the cost of incorporating video into portable devices continues to decline. As a result, In-Stat expects shipment growth of video-enabled PMPs to outpace that of audio-only MP3 players by the end of 2008."
In-Stat predicts that shipments for audio-only MP3 players and PMPs combined will reach 275 million units worldwide in 2011, compared to 182 million units last year. The research firm does not expect feature-rich multimedia phones to affect the demand MP3/PMP devices anytime soon.
Source:
In-Stat