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Competition between Korean MP3 manufacturer Reigncom and the U.S.¡¯ Apple Computer is heating up, with both vying for the number one spot in the MP3 player market.
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 patch, with Reigncom releasing an HDD player and Apple a flash memory machine.
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Reigncom¡¯s latest model iRiver H10, a five-gigabyte HDD model (left) and Apple Computer¡¯s iPod shuffle, a flash memory MP3 player (right)
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Late last year, Reigncom put out the iRiver H10, a five-gigabyte HDD model, after 10 months of research and development, to challenge Apple¡¯s iPod mini. Weighing 100 grams and about the size of a business card case, the iRiver H10 can store up to 1,200 songs, 200 more than the iPod mini. It is equipped with a 1.5-inch color liquid crystal display (LCD) screen, so that users can look at digital pictures or read e-books while listening to music. At the 2005 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Microsoft CEO Bill Gates named the iRiver MP3 player as an outstanding product. Reigncom says its primary goal is to break Apple¡¯s dominance in the MP3 player market.
But Apple is not just sitting back, putting the iPod shuffle, a flash memory MP3 player, on sale in Korea last Thursday. The version with 512 megabytes of memory is priced at W125,400, and the one-gigabyte model is W189,500. This consolidates a shift in Apple¡¯s marketing strategy away from the classy, high-priced brand image of the past. The iPod shuffle abandons LCD screens, and music is played with just one button. It can also serve as a USB flash memory stick. The biggest advantage is that it is simple to handle, allowing older, less tech-savvy people to use it. Unsurprisingly, it targets the same customers as the iRiver N10.
Heated competition in advertising
Reigncom is planning an ad campaign in major cities in the U.S., in Europe, and in Hong Kong from February. 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.
Son Hyung-man, president of Apple Computer Korea, said by putting out both HDD and flash memory MP3 players, the company will increase its market share in Korea, where Apple products have so far tended to appeal to a small, if dedicated, following of boffins.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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