"Samsung has declared that their goal is to... unseat Apple as the number one player by 2007."

Ha ha ha, like they have a chance. Sorry, but Samsung doesn't have the name recognition nor the compelling products to succeed. And featured-packed-till-it's-going-to-explode doesn't mean its compeling. The market is pretty saturated as it is and most ipod owners have invested too much into an ipod and its accessories to want to give it up.

I figured I'd beat Reality Check to the punch and proclaim:

"THE END IS NEAR! WE'RE ALL DOOMED!!!!"

Here's a fun little poll: What drugs do you think Reality Check uses on a daily basis?

(A) Prozac, chased by a shot of Jack Daniels
(B) Wild mushrooms and other "herbs" he grows in his attic
(C) Shoots up herione while listening to Sarah McClaghlin CD's
(D) Other.

Remember, this is a highly scientific survey.

This whole "unseat the iPod" thing is just getting out of hand.

What every competitors fails to do is (no, not get the store/player/device combo, though they fail there too) that all these "iPod" competitors don't sit down with iPod users and talk to them about what the like and what would make the iPod better.

They need to think like Apple. If iPod focus group says, "well an FM tuner would be nice and i'd be willing to pay $10 more for an iPod that has it but what would really make me SWITCH to a non-iPod is a player that works with iTunes and iTunes Music Store" then the competitor needs to STOP IT WITH THE FM TUNER BIT and focus on what would make people switch.

I wish my iPod mini has an FM tuner, or XM even, but I wouldn't switch until another device can play my 500+ $0.99 iTMS library - or maybe offers free WMAs of the same tracks.

Wow, high quality music, FM, and video. Move over Apple, Samsung is the new Sony. Apple's limited music players look dated like an 8-track tape.

Given that they already have the no-iTunes strike against them, I wonder if they will have the cost strike as well.

Two questions. First, why, instead of "targeting" the iPod, don't Samsung, Creative, Dell, etc., just try and make compelling products? Each time they state their goal is to beat the iPod, they give the iPod free marketing.

Speaking of marketing, here is my second question: As much as the competition strives to mimic the iPod, why haven't they learned to mimic the simplicity of Apple's naming? iPod photo, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, and, of course, simply iPod. People get these names, people remember these names, people speak these names.

Contrast this to this hypothetical conversation:

"Cool man, is that the new YH-925?"
"No, dude, it's the YH-820!"
"Sweet!"

I don't think this is enough. Maybe if they had come out with 7 different players. But 6? No way!

I'm beginning to like all these iPod killers and wishes to unseat Apple as the dominant market leader. They serve to expand the market, hence more iPods sold and ultimately lead to a more profitable Apple .

Quote

halo wrote:
"Samsung has declared that their goal is to... unseat Apple as the number one player by 2007."

Ha ha ha, like they have a chance. Sorry, but Samsung doesn't have the name recognition nor the compelling products to succeed. And featured-packed-till-it's-going-to-explode doesn't mean its compeling. The market is pretty saturated as it is and most ipod owners have invested too much into an ipod and its accessories to want to give it up.

"Samsung has declared that their goal is to triple their MP3 player sales this year alone and to unseat Apple as the number one player by 2007. The company plans to sell at least 5 million units this year, up from from 1.7 million last year and is targeting to grab a 10% market share in the U.S. this year."

And there is nothing on their website about them at all! They hold a press-conference yesterday and don't update their Press Release section with it or put up any information on the new models. Compare that to Apple strategy where they put up photos on the home page and multiple pages of new products within an hour of announcement.

lame

Apple must be loving this! Every time these companies mention their own product launches, they mention Apple as the market leader in the same breath! Talk about great publicity - and its all free!
Go go AAPL

You've got to be kidding me. First of all samsung in the cell phone department... i dont know where u guys get this but i've only seen two ppl with samsung phones on campus. EVERYONE has nokia or even the larger one motorola. I myself own 3 motorola phones, all unlocked of course. Everyone i know uses motorola... but i'm sorry samusng, your turning into a dell, trying to sell products that your market doesn't belong to. All i have to say is look at what happened to gateway, dell is next in line followed by samsung.

No one's really said it, but the adoption of the iPod is alot like the adoption of Nintendo's GameBoy. Everyone wanted a GameBoy and every other company thought they could make a cooler product.

Other company's would say, "Hey! Our's has a color screen and a larger display!" But it had bad battery life and didn't play the games people wanted - Metroid, Mario Brothers, Zelda, etc;. The other companies would make Mario Brothers knock off games (Sonic the Hedgehog comes to mind) but they weren't embraced by consumers. If you were a kid, you wanted a GameBoy - not some knock off.

Reminds me a lot of the evolution in the iPods. Other companies say, "Hey! Our's is a full fledged media center that plays videos!" But they're hard to use and aren't practical for the average novice. They also don't have a start to finish seamless solution like iTunes and iPod.

In the same sense that Nintendo products were (and are) just fun to use, the iPod will continue to dominate for the same reasons. I'm sure people said Nintendo was a "closed" system because they didn't allow Mario Brother's games to be played on a Sega platform. Geez.

Believe it or not, you can actually learn from history! Too bad these other companies don't.

They are putting a lot of money into R&D in a lot of areas, but unless they develop a full environment like Apple (player, software, store) they will not come close Apple - they'll only share the non-iPod market with all of the other iPod Killers. Actually, the real problem for Samsung is that they are going to be selling in the non-iPod market, which is full of iPod Killers.

Yeah I am actually a HUGE fan of Samsung's CRTs. But they aren't exactly the dominating force of the cell phone industry.

"the unit plays Ogg Vorbis files as well as MP3, WMA, and Secure WMA and is Janus-ready"

...but it doesn't support the most popular commercial digital audio format in the world--AAC?

Bizarre.

leeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote

Guest wrote:
Believe it or not, you can actually learn from history! Too bad these other companies don't.

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
Wow, high quality music, FM, and video. Move over Apple, Samsung is the new Sony. Apple's limited music players look dated like an 8-track tape.

Something tells me Samsung has no idea how to make their products as hip or cool or 'must have' as the iPod. The name alone says it all.

I wouldn't say the PSP has done alot yet (I'm sure it will eventually) - the DS is selling very well. I do think market passed Nintendo by, but it took a decade before the other companies even competed. I think that's the lesson to be learned - companies will catch up, but it doesn't happen overnight or with one product.

The lesson Nintendo learned, and one Apple is probably aware of, is that you have to continue to develope the market (insert iTunes on cell phones). Nintendo got beaten back by not doing three things: embracing online gaming, upping the graphics power of it's systems, and allowing more mature games (people can only play Mario Brothers for so long before they move on to Grand Theft Auto).

Nintendo's trying to carve a nitch back with a double screen handheld, which is truly innovative for the market. Supposedly they also have a new GameBoy in development that competes graphics wise with the PSP.

Don't get me wrong, the PSP is pretty cool though.

I have had two Samsung phones with my Sprint PCS service and have been pretty happy with them. They are not too bad, fit my hand nice, I can push the buttons without my fingers hitting the wrong key, the screen is bright and big enough. The service is fine except in remote areas.

Quote

Guest wrote:
You've got to be kidding me. First of all samsung in the cell phone department... i dont know where u guys get this but i've only seen two ppl with samsung phones on campus. EVERYONE has nokia or even the larger one motorola. I myself own 3 motorola phones, all unlocked of course. Everyone i know uses motorola... but i'm sorry samusng, your turning into a dell, trying to sell products that your market doesn't belong to. All i have to say is look at what happened to gateway, dell is next in line followed by samsung.

Indeed, the dual-screen is pretty innovative, and when I played with it at the Target store, the games made good use of it. Which is why it's such a shame that Nintendo imbrued it with all the style of a brick. If the iPod has shown the world anything, it's that style makes a huge difference in the user experience (something we Mac users have long known).

Anybody seen the software (on the PC side) of these things?

They can't just leave that out of the equation, can they? iTunes is great, but not end all, when are they going to focus on that? I'd like to see some competition there, could be interesting...

Re the post re Motorola and Nokia - and your point is? I don't know a single person who owns a Samsung mobile phone, sorry I mean cell phone (that's what the USA calls right?)

Quote

RealityCheck wrote:
Wow, high quality music, FM, and video. Move over Apple, Samsung is the new Sony. Apple's limited music players look dated like an 8-track tape.

Quote

Saying stock in Apple Computer (AAPL) will face little competition from the likes of Sony any time soon, the investment firm Goldman Sachs upped its estimates on the company's performance Thursday.

"With competition unlikely to come from 'me too' MP3 players, it will probably take something like Sony's PlayStation portable to pose a challenge to iPod long term," said Goldman Sachs analyst Maria Grant in the full report obtained by The Mac Observer. "Hardware analysts David Bailey and Laura Conigliaro believe (Apple) will likely remain in (the current) trading range (of US$40 to $45) until we get closer to AAPL’s earnings report on April 13."

Ms. Grant raised her estimates on Aplpe's earnings for the quarter to 24 cents from 22 cents a share and its fiscal year estimates to $1.12 from $1.08 a share.

Another factor in her stronger estimates: A prediction of better than expected sales of Apple iPod shuffle, handheld digital music player. Goldman Sachs now expects Apple to sell 1.8 million iPod shuffle's this quarter, up from 1.2 million in a previous report.

" Ha ha ha, like they have a chance. Sorry, but Samsung doesn't have the name recognition....”

I hate to break the news to you, but according to BusinessWeek, Samsung’s brand recognition worldwide has steadily improved from #42, #34 and #25 (in 2001, 2002 and 2003 respectively) to #21 in 2004. In comparison, for 2004 Coca-Cola was #1, Sony #20, Pepsi #22, Nike #31 and Apple is only #43.

Samsung is now a more recognized and sought after brand than even the once dominating Sony in many parts of the far east, Europe & South America. In 8 years Samsung has gone from a virtual unknown in the US to being a household name.

I'm a dyed in the wool Apple/Mac fanatic (since 1985) AND a Samsung employee. I also used to work for Sony...until I saw Samsung start dominating markets at a blistering pace (and pushing industry giants out of their way to achieve their goals). According to industry rankings Samsung is:

#1 in DRAM memory worldwide for at least 8 years
#1 in Flash memory worldwide (displacing Intel in 2004)
#2 in overall semiconductor manufacturing (behind Intel, expected to displace Intel as #1 within 3 years)
#3 electronics manufacturer worldwide (behind Sony & Matsushita)
#1 in Color displays worldwide
#3 in Cell phones worldwide
#1 in Microwave ovens worldwide

In most of these areas Samsung went from a minor player to their current rank in less than 10 years. If Samsung says they've targeted being the #1 in any area, take it seriously. Samsung is! I'm also sure Apple is!

Samsung is also into building freighters/tankers, F16 fighters for the Korean Airforce, makes textiles, cameras, computers/laptops, food, has a large banking/credit arm, etc. In short, name an industry, Samsung is probably in it. Whether you know it or not, you probably own a lot of Samsung products. Samsung builds a great deal of the appliances, monitors and electronics you buy from "manufacturers" like GE.

Samsung has the financial clout to achieve their goals with annual sales > $110Billion.

In less than 10 years Samsung has gone from being perceived as a manufacturer of cheap goods to one of the world's most respected (and feared) companies.

Will Samsung displace Apple as the #1 manufacturer of music players? Only time will tell. However, recent history shows once Samsung set’s a goal, they will do everything in their power to succeed. Samsung is tenacious in the pursuit of their goals. Microsoft, Intel and Sony are pussycats compared to Samsung

As an Apple fanatic I hope Apple is prepared for the onslaught.

According to NPD Group, the percentage of MP3-formatted songs in digital-music collections has slid steadily in recent months, down to about 72% of people's collections from about 82% a year ago. NPD researchers estimate that there was a net loss of about 742 mln MP3 files from U.S. hard drives between August 2003 and July 2004, despite people acquiring blns of songs from file-trading networks and their own CDs. By contrast, Windows Media files showed a net gain of 537 mln files on US hard drives. Windows Media market share is at 19.6%% today. Apple's iTunes AAC has gained 4.3% of the hard-drive share in just seven months

Quote

deasys wrote:
"the unit plays Ogg Vorbis files as well as MP3, WMA, and Secure WMA and is Janus-ready"

...but it doesn't support the most popular commercial digital audio format in the world--AAC?

Bizarre.

ok, the only reason windows media is gaining is cuz they include that piece of SH** in every frick'n computer. I HATE that player. The thing is horrible to start with, seriously, microcrapo has to rethink that and fix it. I think MP3 will slip cuz every other bob or dave out there is making there own stupid "player" with its own personal format. the problem with this is it is becoming hard to "swap" music w/ friends and to just do average day things with it.

"Thursday, aimed at cutting into Apple's
70% worldwide market share of music devices."

Jesus. I thought they had 70% of the North American market. But the worldwide MP3 player market? That's crazy.

"Wow, high quality music, FM, and video. Move over Apple, Samsung is the new Sony. Apple's
limited music players look dated like an 8-track tape."

The iPod supports more formats than Samsung's players, they're multi-platform, and they're directly compatible with he world's #1 digital music store. If the iPod looks like an 8-track tape, then Samsung's player looks like a wax cylinder.

Samsung and others can not match the iPod, they try but it is out of their grasp… this makes me think of the Pixar vs. Dreamworks battle…
Apple as 28 years of experience… the so called user experience that no other Company possesses, the iPod it is no just the Hardware,, what about the Software, can the others make it?
No, they do not have Steve Jobs as a CEO and Steve Wozniak as a Consultant.
Their main concern it is no the User itself but instead, the fast profit… I expect that with the coming of the Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and the continuous pursuit of excellence from the iPod Division… Apple will surely rise all the Market Share…

Gemini

Quote

jimothy wrote:
Two questions. First, why, instead of "targeting" the iPod, don't Samsung, Creative, Dell, etc., just try and make compelling products? Each time they state their goal is to beat the iPod, they give the iPod free marketing.

Speaking of marketing, here is my second question: As much as the competition strives to mimic the iPod, why haven't they learned to mimic the simplicity of Apple's naming? iPod photo, iPod mini, iPod shuffle, and, of course, simply iPod. People get these names, people remember these names, people speak these names.

Contrast this to this hypothetical conversation:

"Cool man, is that the new YH-925?"
"No, dude, it's the YH-820!"
"Sweet!"

The story intro needs some qualification. That's 70% of hard drive players. Flash plyers sell more. read...

China produced 10 million flash-memory MP3 players last year, up 150 percent from 2003, according to a research report by Global Sources Ltd. "Demand is surging for devices that allow consumers to enjoy portable music or movies," said Mark Anderson, publisher of the report.

The report said worldwide sales of flash MP3 players reached around 25 million units in 2004, doubling 2003 sales. Four out of 10 flash MP3 players shipped in 2004 will be produced in China. The hard disk segment of the MP3 market also grew, with 2.4 million units shipped worldwide, an increase of 33 percent on 2003.

Following the success of Apple Computer Inc's iPod, which accounted for 70 percent of all hard-disk MP3 players sold worldwide in 2004, 18 Chinese MP3 manufacturers added hard-disk MP3 players to their product lines. The report said China is the world's manufacturing center for low-end to mid-range MP3 players

#1 in DRAM memory worldwide for at least 8 years
#1 in Flash memory worldwide (displacing Intel in 2004)
#2 in overall semiconductor manufacturing (behind Intel, expected to displace Intel as #1 within 3 years)
#3 electronics manufacturer worldwide (behind Sony & Matsushita)
#1 in Color displays worldwide
#3 in Cell phones worldwide
#1 in Microwave ovens worldwide
#0 in cool
#1 in wannabe

I just got one! It's OK, but the iPod's look and feel is nicer. (YH-925)

I got it because
1. It records
2. It works with WMP 10, (no iTuenes to install. I don't trust Apple to write Windows software)
3. It plays WMAs which I feel sound better

--
Robert
http://www.robert.to/

Problems / Things I Hate About This Player:

*Windows XP Only
*Windows Media Player 10 Only
*Latest Version of Napster Only
*No Stop Button
*Playlist Errors (there are at least 2 that I know of on the player that do not exist on the computer. Same playlist).

This I Do Like About This Player:

*The sound recorder records with excellent sound quality (and that's it).

Too bad I'm stuck with it now, it's too late to have it returned. The stupid guy at the store said that it was better than the ipod, which is what I originally wanted, and like a fool, I listened. I just tried plugging the thing into my computer for the first time since I created the original playlists so that I could update the playlists, and the player stalls while booting now when connected to the computer. Now I'm going to need to save up and get that ipod instead and figure out what to do with this piece of crap. It seems that the samsung yh-925 only exists to tick people off. I hope that Samsung gets their act together with these things soon, for their sake.