South Korean giant Samsung Electronics predicts the market for MP3 audio players in Hong Kong will double this year.
A total of 80,000 MP3 players were sold in Hong Kong last year and over 120,000 have been sold this year, according to Keith Chan, sales manager at Samsung Hong Kong. He said Samsung was leading the local market for MP3 players with a share of about 35 to 40 per cent.
Samsung last week launched four new MP3 players in its Yepp product line. Targeting the predominantly young people who buy these devices, the new Samsung Yepp was intended to cater to growing demand for high-end players, said Mr Chan.
'The low-end market is already too crowded with products from all over the world. What the customers want is some trendy stuff which they can show off to their peers. Price is not a significant factor to them,' he said.
The 64-megabyte YP-700S and the 128MB YP-700H support both MP3 and Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA) formats. They feature built-in FM tuners and remote controls.
They have USB and Smart Media slots and are compatible with both Apple and Windows-based personal computers. Unusually for MP3 players, both can record audio, with the 700S offering up to four hours of voice recording, and the 700Hrecording up to eight hours.
Both models reportedly offer 20 hours of playback on an Ni-MH rechargeable battery but users can also use two AAA batteries with an external case. The YP-700S is priced at HK$1,780 while YP-700H costs HK$2,280.