Betanews.com notes that Apple's iPod is selling poorly in South Korea. Why? Its design is too minimalist. " Consumers in Asian countries have traditionally opted for tech gadgets with more bells and whistles, and MP3 players are apparently no exception."
Market shares in South Korea are:
iRiver = 35%
Samsung = 14%
Cowon = 13%
...
Apple = 1.8%
Another reason might be nationalism: the Top 3 sellers are all Korean products.
Creative Losses
Meanwhile, the company that hoped to unseat Apple is not doing so well. Creative says that disappointing sales of its MP3 players caused a quarterly loss that was larger than expected.The company is also suffering from (wait for it:) the downward pressure on prices and the declining value of its inventory. This sounds very similar to the problems being experienced by some digital camera makers.
Creative has two new multimedia MP3 players planned for the fall.
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