The End of MP3 Players?

In the past few months mp3 player companies have been getting more concerned about the possible impact that mp3 phones will have on the mp3 player market - and rightly so. Would you want another gadget or would you pay more for a better one that does what the other gadgets do?

There's a strong possibility that more consumers will switch to the mp3 player mobile phones that have 5 megapixel cameras, can play tones of their favourite tunes, keep track of when they've got to pay their bills, organise their mate's birthdays and obviously make calls?

Two years ago Samsung was the first handset maker to include a hard disk drive in one of their mobile phones. And now they're getting more common, just look at the Samsung SGH-i310 that has 8GB of hard disk.

Maybe 8GB isn't a patch on some of the mp3 players that can reach up to 60gb, but with time, they'll be able to compete on the volume stakes. But they'll need more functionality and features to compete head-on with the iPod and its horde of accessories.

Consider also that when you take on a mobile phone these days you're given an XBOX 360, a PSP or £200 back. Given the sort of incentives out there, which you don't get with an iPod - generally they're the things that are given away free, we could easily be looking at the next gadget that surpasses the iPod - not the Zune MP3 Player.

The market will fragment into MP3 phones and Personal Media Players. The former will be used every day, the later less frequently but have a lot of cool functionality. The third category will be the low-spec mp3 players that will remain about the £20-£40 mark.

These MP3 Phones will have the advantage of having established methods of downloading tracks, the Personal Media Players will focus on more getting content vUSBusb or wireless connectivity to a PC.

The future is bright for mobitelecommsoms devices, so long as users can play and obtain music easily.