News

Message for Apple: get the iPod Phone ready, or die!

The days of the dedicated music player, says the Yankee Group, are numbered; the MP3 phone is what tomorrow's mobile users will want. It's a trend anybody who has been watching the Sony Ericsson "Walkman" phone sales will not find a surprise.

A Techworld analysis quotes the group as predicting the digital audio player market "will slide to 52 million users by 2010, down from 60 million in 2007." But the decline won't stop there, says Yankee group. Working against the iPod and its iRivals, is the fact that the market may be getting near saturation.

Saturation hasn't affected mobile phone sales, because people keep wanting to upgrade to the newest, latest phone model.

Apple has been strongly rumoured to be planning a "real" iPod phone, since before the disappointing joint launch of Motorola's ROKR which plays iTunes download files. So the good news, for mobile retailers, is probably: even less to worry about, because people will replace their phones even more often.

That's the retailers, however. The news won't be greeted with unreserved cheers by phone operators, because they are fighting a losing battle to persuade us to keep our phones for longer.

Profits from mobile phone calls only kick in after the cost of the phone is paid for. If you can make a phone owner keep it for 18 months instead of 12, profits are hugely improved. Alas! - the trend to swapping them quicker and quicker doesn't look like ending soon.

MP3s  could become extinct - Techworld.