Dallas — Worldwide shipments of portable media players (PMPs) will grow at a 30 percent annualized rate over the next five years, predicts Parks Associates.
PMPs, which play back video as well as audio, will reach shipments of 132 million units in 2011, driven by consumers upgrading from MP3 players and the popularity of new Web sites that offer downloading of free short video clips, said senior analyst Harry Wang.
In addition, prices are falling on the players and the devices offer increasingly greater storage and better ease of use.
In North America, the percentage of flash-based video PMPs will rise from 15 percent in 2006 to 77 percent in 2011, said Parks.
“Flash memory’s merits, such as durability, small form factor and low power consumption, make it the preferred storage medium for video PMP manufacturers,” Wang said, adding, “Barring any significant developments in the online video market, the use of hard disk drives on the PMP platform will trail substantially.”
