“Korean electronics makers are lowering the prices of their digital music players to compete with the increasing popularity of Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod on the local market. ReignCom Ltd., Korea’s largest MP3 player maker, slashed the price tag on its best-selling iRiver flash-memory type models by 20 to 25 percent last week and said it will extend the cuts to foreign markets next month,” Kim Tong-hyung reports for The Korean Herald. “Another ReignCom official admitted that the price cuts could have a negative effect on ReignCom’s operating profit during the first quarter.”
Full article here.
Apple’s pushing the buttons, now bitches!
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Looks like they are up the iRiver without a paddle!
Apple makes a healthy profit on most of their gear, which allows them to make other items at little or no profit (iTMS, mac mini, iPod Shuffle) lets see who can keep up as Apple expands into more and more markets which many places for growth and profit ^_^
first they declare war, up next bankruptcy.
G-Money, that was funny.
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As we have learned from other companies, cutting the price is not always the key.
this might have a negative effect on their profits? gee, ya think?
Er, wasn’t that Creative that declared war? But they can’t be doing much better
so selling the players below cost may have a negative effect on profits? Isn’t that dot com bubble econ 101?
Interesting that the first move in Creatives audio jihad is RETREAT!!!
MDN magic word = learned, as in you think they would have by now
macjack- you’re right, it was creative.
Macjack and Carl C, sorry I screwed up. I thought Reigncom was creative’s parent company.
If Apple can “Pimp Slap” Dell around in Digital Music, what made these people think they were something special.
BTW-
“Plays for Sure” =IT WON”T WORK ON AN iPod.
ReignCom Ltd. slashing prices on their best-selling players = cutting into their profits. Not a smart move.
Reminds me of Napster losing money on music downloads by selling them for $0.49 in order to ‘compete’ with the ITMS. Or what about BuyMusic.com? Flushed several million $$$ trying to launch that sorry ‘service’. Boneheads.
It’s sad, really. They can’t come up with anything really innovative, so they just try to compete on price. Sounds like some of Apple’s *other* competitors. Hey ReignCom, see ya ’round.
…won’t last for sure.
…won’t work for sure on iPod.
…except here.
Another possibility: Apple has been known to dump excess inventory in Costco. Maybe this means they’re trying to dump the last of their iPod minis.
Next week, Apple will sell iPod minis in 5GB ($199) and 10GB ($249).
Just a thought….
ReignCom’s making a profit? Woohoo..
I went over to iRiver’s e-store. The cheapest player I could find with 512MB was $199.99. So, take 25% off and get $149.00.
So, for an extra $50, I get an FM Tuner, Voice and Line-in Recording, and a screen. I also have to feed it a AA battery every 40 hours, it’s about three times as thick and a bit wider and longer. It’s also half-an-ounce heavier (1.3 vs 0.78), but that’s without the battery. Add anywhere from half-an-ounce to 2 ounces for the battery and it’s 2-4x heavier!
Oh. And it’s ugly.
Uh…I don’t think so. About the only thing this has that the shuffle doesn’t that I would want is the screen. (Aside: I wish Apple would add a one or two-line screen, just to show me what song is playing).
What is great about this is that AAC(MP4) is becoming the standard over WMA…that is the real issue on the battlefront, and Micro$in is
spiraling down the toilet in this area. In the future, the standard digital music format will determine everything and Apple will eventually license their DRM out to everybody and make their real money and have, yes, power over everybody else.
I wouldn’t gripe about Micro$ins power over everybody, IF, they made the best product, but they aren’t even close. What is different about Apple is that their focus is on being the best, not the power they get from it.
I believe Brother g$ meant to say
“Looks like they are up the iRiver without a iPoddle!
Just point out that Apple has said they have a 25% margin on the mini, and 20% on the shuffle. So they are by no means losing money on each sale.
The shuffle is cheap because it has no display and none of those extra features.
Anon-
exactly, if supplies ever catch up with demand they could do a great promo and sell them for $69 for like a week or something.