“Japan’s Olympus Corp. said on Wednesday that it planned to shift the focus of its digital camera business away from compact models and sell more high-end single lens reflex cameras to boost profitability,” Reuters reports. “The Tokyo-based company also said that it would halt production of portable digital music players, unable to keep up with stronger players such as… Apple Computer Inc. in the fast-growing market.”
Full article here.
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Remember all the hoopla last January about Olympus’ Super Bowl ad for their new iPod killer? The Olympus bath… er, m:robe is no more. Does anyone know a single soul who bought one?
Related articles:
More blood on Apple iPod’s Click Wheel: Rio is dead – August 26, 2005
Apple’s iPod has blood on its Click Wheel: Virgin Electronics is dead – March 08, 2005
Review: Olympus m:robe not an ‘iPod killer,’ fails on more than one level – February 09, 2005
Olympus plans Super Bowl ad pushing their ‘iPod photo killer’ – January 17, 2005
Ahhh, yeh-heh-hesssssss. The “M:Robe”!
What a piece of junk. And what’s with these Japanese companies — why can’t they come up with simple names? You know — easy and to the point? I mean, what de hell is an m:robe? Sounds like something you’d wear to get de m:mail.
Open your tiny eyes, Japan. iPod’s are here to stay.
Now get back to making cameras for all de Japanese tourists.
And just so I can sound like all you other MDN losers . . .
First Post! First Post!!
And why de hell is this site so slow??? I’ve passed stools quicker than it takes this page to load!
It would be interesting to see latest market share numbers and then cross off the also-rans that are no longer “running”.
With Creative focusing on profits, not market share, Rio and Olympus jumping ship, just what does that leave us? The Dell DJ?
Seriously, who are the contenders now?
MDN word: big
Ohhhhh ok?? did i miss something…
“unable to keep up with stronger players such as… Apple Computer Inc. in the fast-growing market.”
It’s funny that the market is growing fast but Apple is the only one doing anything in that market space!
yeah i bought a few
AAHHH somebody else posted as me before me…does that even make sense
Hey, Triumph, love your work!
I completely forgot about that player. I wonder how many they sold.
iPod,killer.
Crouching… That’s because Aplle knows what to do with the market. As we’ve all been saying all along…”The other guys don’t get it.” Apple does, along with considerable marketshare.
TimD — Good one.
JadisOne — I was thinking the exact same thing. I had completely, thoroughly forgotten about the product.
Maybe never seeing them in a store — ever — and never meeting anyone who owned one — ever — might’ve had something to do with that.
I I own own two two iPods iPods.
me, stop following “me” around.
And take your m:robe’s and try, just try, selling them on eBay.
Good luck.
Good one, TimD
That mp3 player had one of the best designs, one of the few comparable to the iPod (regardless of price). Too bad they had to leave the market.
did i miss something? wtf is an m:robe? never even heard of it
mw is hot – apparently these aren’t hot sellers.
Apple iPod…
the iPod killer killer.
iPod: Honestly, officer, it was self defense!
Example m:robe:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000517067083/
Ever notice that all these manufacturers say that they are “shifting focus”, when what they really mean is that they are “giving up”.
A better example:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000663049510/
The iPod is a serial killer.
Just visited Best buy. Danvers, MA
They have the worst display of Ipods. None of them have anything loaded so you can’t play with the menus or listen to anything. whata dump.
Anyways I was surprised how many MP3 players are still out there.
Sony , Philips.
Good thing Apple has its own stores to showcase ipods because Comp usa and best buy are awful. The ceos of those companys should be tearing new holes in store managers
Olympus going after the digital SLR market?!?!?
With the dominance of Canon and Nikon, Olympus might have a better chance competing against Apple. Even Minolta has to eat the crumbs of the other two for DSLR’s.
The pro’s all use Canon or Nikon and the market for amateurs buying DSLR’s is drying up. Most of them moved to point-n-shoot cameras. The rest are buying Canon and Nikon.
Their Supersonic Wave Filter, on the other hand, does sound interesting.
Back to your regular scheduled Macintosh news.
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