Unclear whether it can keep lead as mobile phone companies put out handsets with built-in music players.
Apple continued to lead the U.S. digital music-player market in the second quarter with a 75.6% share, according to the NPD Group.
“Apple has done a great job of focusing consumers’ attention on digital music in their products through millions of dollars in advertising,” said Ross Rubin, analyst at the NPD Group, via e-mail.
But it’s hard to tell whether Apple will be able to maintain its sizable lead as mobile phone companies continue to put out handsets with built-in music players. A number of analysts have warned that the digital music-player market could go the way of the PDA, which saw growth drop once mobile phone companies introduced smart phones, handsets with PDA functionality.
Rubin says that companies focused on stand-alone digital music players should remain competitive against the mobile phone industry, because their devices have greater capacity, better user interfaces, better integration with online music services and stronger DRM support.
U.S. mobile phone service providers have also hindered the popularity of using mobile phones as music players, because they have been charging more for purchasing songs online than their rivals in the stand-alone music player business, Rubin said. Carriers have also in some cases been reluctant to enable music file exchange with PCs via memory cards or Bluetooth, instead preferring that consumers rely on their networks for purchases, he added.
But he noted that mobile phone companies are getting better at the music business, especially in recent handset models from companies such as Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, LG Electronics and Nokia, indicating that the fight is still in its early rounds.
SanDisk Corp. followed Apple in the second-quarter ranking, with a 9.7% market share, according to the NPD Group, while Creative Technology took third, with 4.3% of the U.S. digital music player market.
The NPD Group does not include mobile phones with built-in music player functions in its figures.
U.S. stand-alone digital music player market in the second quarter, 2006.
| Company | Percent market share |
| Apple | 75.6% |
| SanDisk | 9.7% |
| Creative | 4.3% |
| Samsung | 2.5% |
| Sony | 1.9% |
