“Standard & Poor’s Equity Research analyst Megan Graham-Hackett downgraded shares of digital entertainment company Creative Technology to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’ citing increased competition from Apple Computer in the MP3 player market,” David Ng reports for Forbes. “The analyst sees Creative Technology facing a ‘challenging’ March quarter due to Apple’s product introductions in the lower-end MP3 market. Graham-Hackett lowered the price target on Creative Technology to $7 from $8, based on revised price-to-sales analysis.”
More in the full article here.
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Ouch. I wonder how the CEO feels now about declaring war on Apple?
>>> JadisOne >>> Ouch. I wonder how the CEO feels now about declaring war on Apple?
He feels just like Sadaam claiming the “mother of all battles.”
Beleagured.
The media player SPACE is certainly large enough for multiple vendors to succeed. This is 100% the fault of Creative for not inovating and simply copying the iPod, adding and FM tuner, and dropping the price by $15 bucks.
With current market position, there is an iPod for every budget, music collection, and feature set need. From mowing the lawn to commuting to carying an entire music collection to watching the latest reality TV on an airplane. Had creative focused on any ONE of those areas and innovated, they could have taken a piece of the action. Instead, their withdrawing from the market with a black eye.
Oh Yeah! Apple’s really cutting into the sound card market! X-Fi cards are running scared now. Last time I checked, Creatives main cash cow were sound cards, modems and branded optical drives. They could drop their mp3 players today and not bat an eye.
No Apple computer with its built in sound system can stand up to Creatives line of sound cards.
..and yet it’s Creative who are having their stock downgraded
Increased competition from apple my arse. Increased dominance from apple and a total lack of competition from anyone else more like.
Of course its increased competition from Apple..you only have to look at the speed of new versions. Apple is its own best competition when it comes to incentives for innovation…
If you threaten someone, you better be able to back it up!
Hey, R — That’s beleaguered, nitwit.
Hah hah, hello Sim Wong Hoo, err, Reverse Thrust. Nice to see you here. Now take your unglamorous sound cards and go home.
The fly in the ointment is the anti-trust angle — not that I am suggesting that Apple is doing anything wrong. The losers in the mp3 player game are screaming for government help. And a SCOTUS that can pull a “Kelo” decision out of its arse has to be seen as a real threat to Apple.
Reverse Thrust: Time to go backwards. You’re wrong.
The mp3 player business is now the top revenue piece of Creative. Go check out their SEC filings.
Reverse thrust: Yeah, man! Gotta get me a SoundBlaster for my killer 486 PC!
Domino effect: This is gonna hurt Krispy Kreme’s stock for sure!
X-Fi Xtreme Music specs:
Technical Specs
* 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
* 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
* 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
* 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8, 11.025, 16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
* ASIO 2.0 support at 16-bit/44.1kHz, 16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring
* Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution
Audio Performance (Rated Output @ 2Vrms)
* Signal-to-Noise Ratio (20kHz Low-pass filter, A-Weighted)
o Stereo Output: 109dB
o Front and Rear Channels: 109dB
o Center, Subwoofer and Side Channels: 109dB
* Total Harmonic Distortion + Noise at 1kHz (20kHz Low-pass filter) = 0.004%
* Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/96kHz input ) = <10Hz to 46kHz
* Frequency Response (-3dB, 24-bit/192kHz input) = <10Hz to 88kHz (Stereo only)
Connectivity
* FlexiJack (Performing a 3-in-1 function, Digital I/O1 / Line In / Microphone) via 3.50mm mini jack
* Line level out (Front / Rear / Side / Center / Subwoofer) via 3.50mm mini jacks
* AUX_IN line-level analog input via 4-pin Molex connector on card
* One AD_Link (26 pin) connector for linking to the X-Fi I/O Console (upgrade option)
1 Supports SPDIF Out compressed ac3 signal or PCM for Stereo Digital Speaker. Also supports SPDIF In with Creative Digital I/O Module (sold separately).
Now, which Mac comes with sound specs like this?
ReverseT, my vague recollections are that Creative’s last quarter showed MP3 players were $250M of about $350M in sales. In other words, the vast majority of revenues are from MP3 players, NOT the other stuff you mention. Funny how facts get in the way of a good piece of FUD.
Hey Reverse Thrust, why would I want all that cr@p?
My Mac plays music just fine thank you very much.
KenC:
Creative will never go away because of the excellent sound systems they create, better than any others on the planet for personal computers.
Tina Turner:
Because when I turn the lights off and I play Doom III on my 42″ HDTV with my 7.1 speakers connected to my X-Fi sound card I can hear the Imps comming up behind me. Thats why you play the games, thats why you ride the BIG roller coster.