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Tokyo (pte032/15.07.2005/13:24) - Sony Corp. http://www.sony.com , which brought the world the Walkman cassette player 26 years ago, is cutting into the popularity of Apple's iPods http://www.apple.com with a line-up of new digital music players in Japan.
In Europe and North America, where iPod sales rocketed over the last year, Apple dominates the market.
Although the company still sells the most hard drive players in Japan, Sony has attained the highest sales position for memory-type players in May and June, relegating Apple's iPod Shuffle to second place.
Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies, a US-based research firm said, "There is no question that Sony has the potential of being much more competitive. It could emerge as a more formidable rival to Apple over the next three years."
Sony's new digital music players were launched worldwide in March and April. They include models equipped with flash memory chips, which are able to store 256, 512 megabytes or 1 gigabyte of data, and two players with hard disk drives. What's more, they have a flashy design that resembles a small perfume bottle, and have a window at the front that displays what is currently playing, which the iPod Shuffle does not.
Shinichi Iwata, a Walkman marketing overseer in Japan said, "Design is one of the main factors consumers now look at when buying a portable audio player. They have become like accessories, so having something that looks good is a must."
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