SanDisk on Monday unveiled its Sansa Connect, an MP3 player with the ability to connect wirelessly to Yahoo's online music site, where it can download a limited number of songs over a WiFi hotspot.
April 10, 2007 (Press Release) --
SanDisk is No. 2 in MP3 portable music players and trying hard. But dethroning reigning leader Apple and its ubiquitous iPod may be less important than diversification to this Milpitas chip company with broad aspirations.
SanDisk on Monday unveiled its Sansa Connect, an MP3 player with the ability to connect wirelessly to Yahoo's online music site, where it can download a limited number of songs over a WiFi hotspot.
The product is among a new generation of MP3 players that will use WiFi to bypass a personal computer for finding new music, potentially expanding a market that is beginning to see signs of saturation.
According to Eric Bone, SanDisk's senior director of product marketing, the device will let users download songs they hear on more than 90 radio stations broadcast from the Yahoo subscription-based Web site. It also will permit downloads from music recommended by other Yahoo subscribers and from a list of top Yahoo downloads.
Bone said SanDisk sees Apple as a target. "We're never going to be satisfied with our market share," he said. "We always want to be stronger."
But the real significance of the relatively expensive $250, 4-gigabyte Sansa Connect is to continue an expansion into consumer products that is taking SanDisk beyond its roots as a manufacturer of NAND flash-memory chips. NAND chips are used in devices such as MP3 players and digital cameras.
Along with diversifying revenue, one benefit of having a consumer business and a top selling MP3 player - SanDisk had 9 percent of the U.S. retail market in February compared with 74 percent for Apple, according to researchers at NPD Group - is that it provides a beachhead for introducing new technology to the market, such as wireless, or perhaps video playback, said Roy.
This will be especially important as the MP3 market begins to slow, said James McQuivey, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. McQuivey said he doesn't see the Sansa Connect as a "big threat" to the iPod, but it could attract a hard-core group of MP3 users interested in replacing older models.
In one sense, the maturing market may work in SanDisk's favor. Because of discounts and promotions, the company average selling price in February was $94 compared with $180 for Apple, said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD Group.
It's a strategy that will continue, said Bone. He said he expects consumers will see promotional prices for the Sansa Connect below the $250 list price.
The challenge for SanDisk will be competing against the combination of Apple's iPod and its iTunes music store. Apple doesn't let other MP3s play music from iTunes, and SanDisk hopes to overcome the disadvantage with its Yahoo partnership.
However, people have a lot of music on their iPods and they are going to want to move it over to any new machine they buy, said Matt Booth, senior vice president at the Kelsey Group.
Author: Mark Boslet
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
SanDisk on Monday unveiled its Sansa Connect, an MP3 player with the ability to connect wirelessly to Yahoo's online music site, where it can download a limited number of songs over a WiFi hotspot.
The product is among a new generation of MP3 players that will use WiFi to bypass a personal computer for finding new music, potentially expanding a market that is beginning to see signs of saturation.
According to Eric Bone, SanDisk's senior director of product marketing, the device will let users download songs they hear on more than 90 radio stations broadcast from the Yahoo subscription-based Web site. It also will permit downloads from music recommended by other Yahoo subscribers and from a list of top Yahoo downloads.
Bone said SanDisk sees Apple as a target. "We're never going to be satisfied with our market share," he said. "We always want to be stronger."
But the real significance of the relatively expensive $250, 4-gigabyte Sansa Connect is to continue an expansion into consumer products that is taking SanDisk beyond its roots as a manufacturer of NAND flash-memory chips. NAND chips are used in devices such as MP3 players and digital cameras.
Along with diversifying revenue, one benefit of having a consumer business and a top selling MP3 player - SanDisk had 9 percent of the U.S. retail market in February compared with 74 percent for Apple, according to researchers at NPD Group - is that it provides a beachhead for introducing new technology to the market, such as wireless, or perhaps video playback, said Roy.
This will be especially important as the MP3 market begins to slow, said James McQuivey, a principal analyst at Forrester Research. McQuivey said he doesn't see the Sansa Connect as a "big threat" to the iPod, but it could attract a hard-core group of MP3 users interested in replacing older models.
In one sense, the maturing market may work in SanDisk's favor. Because of discounts and promotions, the company average selling price in February was $94 compared with $180 for Apple, said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD Group.
It's a strategy that will continue, said Bone. He said he expects consumers will see promotional prices for the Sansa Connect below the $250 list price.
The challenge for SanDisk will be competing against the combination of Apple's iPod and its iTunes music store. Apple doesn't let other MP3s play music from iTunes, and SanDisk hopes to overcome the disadvantage with its Yahoo partnership.
However, people have a lot of music on their iPods and they are going to want to move it over to any new machine they buy, said Matt Booth, senior vice president at the Kelsey Group.
Author: Mark Boslet
Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/
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