News Archive for 06/02/24

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Contour Design unveils Showcase video 60

02/24, 6:30pm

Showcase video 60 for iPod

Contour Design today introduced two new cases for Apple's latest generation of iPod digital music players with video, the Showcase video 60 and Showcase video 30. The new clear cases open and close in a "book-style" fashion, and include shock-absorbing rubber to prevent accidental damage from drops. An enlarged headphone port accommodates oversized high-end headphones, and the cases feature a secure streamlined latch. Designed for the active lifestyle, the cases allow for easy access to all of the controls and can be taken anywhere with a horizontally mounted belt clip. Both the Contour Showcase video 60 and video 30 are priced at $33, and the Showcase video 60 is available now. The Showcase video 30 is slated for shipment in late March.

Kensington unveils new iPod accessories

02/24, 1:20pm

Kensington iPod products

Kensington has unveiled a variety of new accessories for Apple's iPod digital media player which include two new iPod shuffle products, a new Entertainment Dock for iPods, and iPod speakers. The sx2000 Speakers for iPod (£100) is an all-in-one white speaker system that features a built-in dock to recharge an iPod while playing audio via the dock connector. Another product, an Accessory Adaptor for the iPod shuffle (£15) connects to the Shuffle's USB port and emulates the standard dock connection found on other iPods, according to Macworld UK. The Entertainment Dock 500 (£70), which supplements Kensington's existing Stereo Dock for iPods, is designed to form part of a home multimedia system. Kensington has also launched an FM transmitter in the U.S., which the company hopes to include as part of its U.K. offering pending a review of government legislation banning the sale or usage of such devices, according to the report. [updated]

iPod mania 'alive and well' in Japan

02/24, 11:00am

iPod mania in Japan

iPod mania is alive and well in Japan--one of the most competitive consumer-electronics markets on the planet--thanks in part to a slick marketing campaign, according to a new report. The company continues to outsell other competitors by a wide margin--including Sony on its own home turf, according to BusinessWeek: "Despite an array of well-entrenched Japanese rivals, such as Sony and Matsushita, the iPod had cornered 51.3% of the digital-music player market as of the end of 2005, up from about 32% in 2004, according to research firm BCN. Sony was a distant second with 16.2%, while Panasonic grabbed just 8.2% of the market." The success has been in part due to Apple's marketing campaign, which was selected by the Nikkei Marketing Journal as the best of 2005; however, the mobile phone threat looms: "A bigger threat is the growing sophistication of mobile phone-based music in Japan. Cell phones are frequently discussed as potential iPod killers, and Japan's carriers are pushing the hardest to make that a reality."