MP3 players (model: iFP - 100 series) developed by iRiver International (http://www.iriver.com) are revolutionizing markets.
According to the industry yesterday, iRiver, the dominant player in the MP3CD player market, is eyeing the dominance of the MP3 player market next year having gained popularity for MP3CD players among young users through the release of flash memory-type MP3 players for the first time in the domestic industry at the end of September.
Since the release of MP3 players until the end of last week, iRiver set up an astonishing achievement of selling 50,000 units in twelve months. Given the size of the domestic MP3 player market for this year at the 300,000 unit level, iRiver secured the market share close to 20% less than three months after the release. iRiver predicted more than 60,000 units in the sales of MP3 players for this year.
iRiver is also enjoying steady popularity in foreign markets. It is scheduled to ship out 150,000 units by the year-end after clinching an exclusive supply contract with Best Buy, the biggest distributor in the U.S. dedicated for electronic products, on August. CEO Yang Deuk-jun of iRiver said, "The orders from the U.S. are exploding to the point where the delivery runs behind," adding that the sales in the Asian markets including Hong Kong, Singapore and China are also getting larger.
iRiver attributed such a popularity of MP3 players to the superb design and functionality. CEO Yang said, "Prism-style design made by the world-level design house InnoDesign is greatly appealed to consumers, and iRiver`s manufacturing technologies contributed to enhancing product functions."