Are you using an iPod to listen to music while on the go? Well, you may be in the minority now. A new study by MultiMedia Intelligence reports that over a half-billion music-enabled cellphones shipped in 2007. This outpaces the numbers of iPods sold last year by just about 300 million.
That conclusion may be somewhat misleading because presumably the purpose of a music-enabled cellphone is still to be a phone first, and some purchasers may not use the music capabilities at all. If you buy an iPod, on the other, you are almost certainly using it to listen to music. Still, if the data is to be believed, by 2011 the number of music-enabled mobile phones will be approaching one billion units shipped, likely further outpacing the iPod.
It is almost a certainty that Steve Jobs foresaw this trend when he put in motions his plans for the iPhone. Consumers simply do not want to carry around multiple devices on a daily basis when one will do the same thing.
Interestingly enough, though, the iPhone does not fall into MultiMedia Intelligence’s definition of a music phone because it does not have expandable memory. This has been an option many consumers have stated they would like to see in the device. Could it be added along with the other rumored improvements to the 3G iPhone (our coverage)?
The report also states that as full track music downloading and streaming to mobile devices joins with the already lucrative ringtone business, the mobile music market should hit over $6 billion in 2008.
[photo: flickr/theowi84]
Tags: co:Apple6 Comments
-
Fabian Schonholz said:
I think the definition of a music enable phone is way too narrow - based on the definition above. I have to agree with you regarding Steve Jobs’ foresight. But I think there are other factors that are longer termed. A while back I wrote a post on my blog regarding iPhone as part of a product road map for Apple.
http://www.fabianschonholz.com/2007/09/02/apple-the-iphone-and-product-development/
-
MG Siegler said:
@Fabian - I totally agree, any data on music phones that doesn’t include the iPhone should probably be reconsidered (I have a feeling they’ll change that shortly). Thanks for the link!
-
Nathan Schmidt said:
I have to discount any analysis that doesn’t take into account the signature ‘we hate you’ user experience provided by most carriers and handsets. Just having the ‘mp3 player’ bullet point on the feature list doesn’t make your handset a viable playback device. The iPhone+iTunes purchase-over-the-air experience is basically perfect. 30 seconds to find, purchase, download, and start playing a song — which then syncs seamlessly with my computer and AppleTV when I get home. Good luck getting that from Verizon + LG + the music studios. Ain’t going to happen.
-
jon said:
This report is ridiculous. Just because a phone is music-enabled, that doesn’t indicate anything about how it is actually being used. Anecdotally, I have never met ANYONE who usees their phone for music. My thought would be that the vast majority of music-enabled phones are not used for music at all. This requires a more detailed research on how people are actually using their phones that just what they bought. Comparing iPod shipments to cellphone shipments is apples and oranges.
-
MG Siegler said:
@Nathan - I’m in complete agreement with you that iPhone+iTunes completely blows away anything any other “music” phone offers, that’s why I point out the oddness that the data doesn’t include the iPhone as a “music” phone.
-
MG Siegler said:
@jon - as I say in the piece “That conclusion may be somewhat misleading because presumably the purpose of a music-enabled cellphone is still to be a phone first, and some purchasers may not use the music capabilities at all. If you buy an iPod, on the other, you are almost certainly using it to listen to music.”
that said, iPod sales have been at least somewhat stagnant as of late and the natural thought I would argue is still to have one device in your pocket rather than multiple. Certainly the iPhone fulfills that role - and is by far the best of the music-playing cellphones that I’ve seen (even if the report refuses to classify it as such) - but there is a HUGE market out there for such a hybrid device beyond simply those who can afford an iPhone/want to use AT&T or other world carriers.
