PMP Today

There will always be music players, but standalone music devices may soon be coming to an end, as consumers will likely be going for video and multi-media functionality. According to Forbes magazine, sales of MP3 players have reached saturation point and has recently suffered a slowdown in growth. Although 20% growth in 2007 doesn’t sound too bad for most industries, in an industry that has been spoiled by the phenomenal success of Apple’s iPod digital music player its bad news. Best Buy and Circuit city both reported slower than usual MP3 player sales. Analysts point out this slowdown includes even iPod (Apple expects a drop in iPod sales this year).

According to Ross Rubin, director of consumer technology industry analysis at the NPD Group cellphones with built-in music players is partly to blame for this decline with the situation going from bad to worst as soon as Apple’s iPod arrives in June 29. Other analysts, however, pointed out that new iPod generation coming this year may boost sales. Other brands will also chip in, like SanDisk which recently announced the Sansa Connect with WiFi.

[via 7days]