Biggest Gains For Compressed Audio Seen Outside Portables, IDC Contends
By Staff On Jun 23 2003 - 6:00am
Factory-level sales of devices that play compressed music will enjoy a five-year compound annual growth rate of 30 percent during the next few years to hit almost $44 billion in worldwide revenues in 2007, according to IDC market research.
About two-thirds of those revenues, however, will come from sales of devices other than portable music players that use flash memory or hard disc drives (HDDs) to store music, IDC said.
"Products like DVD players, game consoles, and PVRs that offer consumers the added bonus of compressed-audio support will be important drivers of the compressed-audio-player market during the forecast period," said senior analyst Susan Kevorkian.
In other findings, the report contends that:
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The steadily declining cost of flash memory will drive 24 percent compound annual growth in the portable flash player market by 2007.
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The portable HDD jukebox market will be constrained by price points not expected to fall below $200 during the forecast period because of HDD component price trends.
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The portable, home and car audio market will be bolstered by the inclusion of compressed-audio decoding as a standard feature.