Will mobile phone competition spell the end of the MP3 player?

By Andrej Sokolow Dec 4, 2011, 3:06 GMT

Berlin - Even though it seems that everyone is getting a smartphone these days, there is still a market for the lowly MP3 player - the devices that got the digital music revolution started in the first place - especially if you're looking for a multimedia device that won't break the budget.

Still, it's a fair question to wonder if a basic MP3 player has any kind of long-term future, when market analysts note that every second mobile phone purchased tends to be a smartphone. A Gartner survey suggests 95 per cent of the German market for example will be based on smartphones by 2015.

Which would seem to argue against people keeping separate music players. However, the German Society for Entertainment and Communications Technology (gfu) sees a future for them.

'The jacks-of-all-trades leave some room for specialists,' says gfu spokesman Roland Stehle. 'For example, not everyone wants to go jogging with their smartphone.'

Beyond that, a lot of parents might not be willing to let their children have a smartphone. Others might be motivated by the annoyance of not being able to use their smartphone for telephoning after the battery has been drained by playing music or videos.

It's also a question of cost. A smartphone will cost several hundred euros. You can get an MP3 player starting at 20 euros (27 dollars). That gives them a guaranteed future as marketing gifts, says Stehle.

There's been a lot of specialization in the market, with some focusing on being affordable, others on being larger. There are also niches for comfortable handling, colour screens, top-of-the-line models with larger screens for playing videos or devices with extra memory.

Despite their relatively high price, Apple's iPods have managed to maintain their role as global market leader. Their well-conceived handling, a seamlessly integrated online shop, iTunes, and the cool factor has helped to keep them popular among the young.

But the average price of an MP3 player is around 80 euros, reports GfK, meaning a lot of people are looking for cheaper alternatives to Apple.

Apple has expanded into other categories, often setting the pace for the rest of the market. Thus, there's the iPod Shuffle, costing 50 euros. It's a small, square and has no screen, but comes with 2 GB of memory.

But there's also a cheap alternative: the Intenso Music Walker, which looks like a slightly too-large USB stick that has a small display. Packed with 4 GB, these can be had for about 20 euros. Pay 30 euros and you get double the memory.

The iPod nano has seen the most changes in recent years. The original iPod Mini seems, from today's perspective, like a hastily shrunk-down version of the larger iPod. Since then, the nano has just gotten smaller. The newest version is essentially a square screen and measures four centimetres.

Trying to keep this compact packaging, Apple has tried to guarantee the nano a future as a kind of replacement for the wristwatch. The newest version has a variety of displays, although it cannot play video like some predecessors. Apple is also working to keep the price competitive: 129 euros for an 8 GB version.

Similar in appearance are two alternatives: the Zen Style M100 from Creative and the Vision A14VG from Archos with 4 GB storage, for about 40 euros. Other items in the same price category are Trekstor's i.beat moveS2.0 or the Zen Style 300, which seems to be returning to classic MP3 player design, sporting buttons placed beneath a screen.

Apple's high-end model is the iPod touch, a kind of thinner iPhone without any telephone function. The device, which Apple is also pushing as a gaming platform to compete with Sony's PSP or the Nintendo DS, has a touch-sensitive screen that measures 3.5 inches diagonally. Prices start at 189 euros for the 8GB version and up to 389 euros for the 64 GB version.