February 9, 2005
Mobile phones will not replace portable media players
Jupiter Research has found in a recent survey that mobile phones will not replace portable media players in the immediate future, despite industry initiatives from Apple and Napster. [via Pocket-Lint]
The report “Music Mobile Phones - Will They Replace Portable Media Players?” finds that mobile phones are hampered by a trade-off between size, battery life and the power demands of numerous new multimedia services.
“Mobile phone music services must not be positioned to compete with the PC music experience as the handsets are not yet ready,” said Thomas Husson, European Mobile Analyst at JupiterResearch. “Mobile music services should be new and different, and enable operators to differentiate their brands and support third generation network launches,” added Husson.
Cell phones may not replace media players just yet, but consumers want real music on their cell phones when purchasing a new model. I agree with Ericsson who claims 2005 will be the year of the MP3 phone:
Sony Ericsson comitted to music phones 2005 will be the year of MP3 phones (2004 was for camera phones). Sony Ericsson echoed that viewpoint in its teaser for 3GSM.
Having led the way in establishing the true camera phone category during 2004, Sony Ericsson's new focus for 2005 will be music. [via Mobile Tracker]
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