News Archive for 05/01/24

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Reigncom vs. Apple

01/24, 8:55am

Reigncom, Apple bid for top spot in MP3 market

Korean MP3 manufacturer Reigncom is taking on Apple in the MP3 player market with its own drive-based player and heavy marketing: "Reigncom is the world's number one in MP3 players with flash memory sticks, while Apple leads the world with the hard drive disk (HDD) players. But recently both transgressed on each other’s [territory], with Reigncom releasing an HDD player and Apple a flash memory model." The article notes that Reigncom is planning an ad campaign in major cities in the U.S., in Europe, and in Hong Kong: "The ads, titled 'Sweeter One,' show a beautiful blond woman biting into an apple. Apple in turn sponsored a TV soap, 'Sad Love Song,' where the iPod shuffle is constantly on show. The company’s aggressive campaign also includes pop group G.O.D. as well as street promotion events during the graduation and entrance season."

250 million iTunes songs

01/24, 8:45am

Apple sells over 250 million iTunes songs

Apple today announced it has sold over 250 million songs from the iTunes Music Store and said that iTunes users are now downloading 1.25 million songs per day--an annual run rate of almost half a billion songs per year. The iTunes Music Store is available in fifteen countries or more than 70 percent of the global music market, according to the company: "When we launched the iTunes Music Store we were hoping to sell a million songs in the first six months -- now we're selling over a million songs every day, and we've sold over a quarter billion songs in total," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iTunes is leading the way into the digital music era and together with iPod is changing the way millions of music lovers find and enjoy their music."

The iPod internals

01/24, 4:35am

ED looks at the iPod internal components

Electric Design offers a detailed breakdown of the various generational flavors of the iPod as well as the iPod mini, including a listingg of the player's internal components, their manufacturers, and functions: "When he first opened up an iPod, Carey estimated the bill of materials cost at less than $250, or roughly 50% of the retail price. By that tally, he suggested that the iPod "may be as much a hook to sell Macs as a profit generator in itself." While Apple won't say whether or not Mac sales were among its goals for the iPod, the music player has had a major halo effect on Apple." Another article looks at the new iPod industry and examines some of the myriad of paraphernalia.