According to some reports in the British market in 2012, the iPod and other MP3 player sales have fallen sharply by more than a fifth.Compared with 2011, according to market research firm Mintel data, MP3 player sales in the UK market this year fell by about 110 million pounds, down 22% to 381 million pounds more than last year. Mintel also predicts that the expected 2017 sales of MP3 players will once again be decreased by about half. Mintel believes that the worst-case scenario is that the last five years, the UK market MP3 player sales will probably decline to 25 million pounds.
MP3 player (also known as portable media players) is a pocket-sized device, one can be charged to be able to play digital music and video content. However, this device been smartphones seize a significant market share, because the smart phones in addition to be able to play digital music and video content, also allows the user to call and use the Internet.
In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod when the user to listen to music almost completely subvert. MP3 player then has to play more than 1,000 songs to a compressed file format. Prior to the introduction of the iPod, music fans can only rely on bulky portable CD player to listen to songs, and even use the player to play tapes to listen to songs. IPod was launched a year later, Apple has expanded the amount of storage, you can play more than 4,000 songs. By the fall of 2010, the global iPod sales of about 275 million.
However, with the rise of smart phones, such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy, the growth momentum of the MP3 player and it has to stop. UK communications industry regulator Ofcom recently found to have two fifths of British youth have a smart phone. Mintel analyst Samer Gibbon (Samuel Gee) claimed that the MP3 player sales slowdown will "never be able to be changed".The analyst also said that: "a reference to the MP3 player market, we can not but mention the smartphone is the smart phone is a direct result of the sharp decline of the sales of MP3 players. MP3 player now has been more and more beyond the new technical equipment, such as smart phones. "
Ian Fogg, analyst at market research firm IHS (Ian Fogg), smart phones already have the iPod once owned uniqueness. Fogg claimed: "convenience of the smartphone to greatly exceed the MP3 player, in addition to playing music carries its own content, the network can also play music smartphone allows users to choose more music content."
The smartphone not only weakened sales of MP3 players, but also led to a decline in some camera sales, because these smart phone also has a built-in camera.
A data display in October this year, the global smart phone usage has reached more than one billion. The market research firm Analysys International, said the growing demand for smart phones may cause global smartphone usage in the next three years to reach 2 billion.