This year has seen
Apple's
iPod MP3 player and iTunes music
download service sweep away all in its wake.
The iPod is the Sony Walkman of its day. It commands a huge 44 per cent of
the MP3 market and is on track to sell 30 million units this year and
43 million next year. Only
Creative comes close with
a 16 per cent market share.
Together with sales of rival MP3 devices, this represents a
doubling of the market since 2004.
Despite niggling problems with the iPod Nano screen,
Apple topped off the year with the successful launch of a video download
service, selling one million videos in 20 days.
The other highlight was the arrival of the
first
iPod phone,
Motorola's
Razr.
and the opening of a
podcasting
service on
iTunes.
Competitors banded together to fight the mighty Apple.
Microsoft and
MTV urged users to
ditch iTunes, and Samsung teamed up with Microsoft,
Napster and
Yahoo in an
effort to beat Apple.
Meanwhile Sony turned up
the heat by launching software that transfers audio and
video to the PlayStation Portable using a USB cable.
But Apple also had some legal problems. Creative launched a
patent challenge and iPod Nano users
sued over the poor quality of the product
And finally, the year ended on a sour note with the news that the ear plug
headphones could be a health risk.
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