Portable Media Players: Multimedia to Go

Digital homes of the future will store audio, video and data files that can be played either on computers or entertainment systems.

Phoenix, Arizona May 12, 2005 - The centerpiece of many family rooms is an entertainment center with a TV, a DVD player, a CD player, a VCR and more connected to a high quality amplifier with surround sound. Today, you can hold that entertainment center in your hand in a Portable Media Player. These new handheld devices will revolutionize the way that consumers manage and play their digital media libraries. As a result, according to “Portable Media Players: Multimedia to Go,” a recently published Semico Research Corp. study, portable media player shipments will increase from less than five hundred thousand units in 2004 to more than nine million units in 2009, creating an entirely new semiconductor market.

A new market attracts alternate solutions, and the portable media player market is no exception. Different solutions are called Portable Media Centers or Portable Media Assistants as well as Portable Media Players. “Although these alternatives have roughly the same capabilities, they use different operating systems on different processors and offer different combinations of audio, video and computing performance,” said Michell Prunty, Research Analyst at Semico Research Corp. “Some, for example, emphasize their video capabilities while others offer more PDA capabilities.” Semico’s study explains these differences and discusses the future for the alternate solutions.

“Portable Media Players: Multimedia to Go” provides a five-year forecast for the semiconductor TAM (Units, Dollars and ASP) for the portable media player market and for the resulting wafer demand. It develops these forecasts from information also included in the study: an OEM sales forecast, a forecast for the BOM for a typical portable media player, and a forecast for the ASPs of semiconductors on the BOM.

Digital homes of the future will store audio, video and data files that can be played either on computers or entertainment systems. Portable media players will expand the digital home by allowing consumers to carry these media files with them. Semico’s study provides valuable information for any company interested in increasing sales by participating in the growth opportunity in this emerging new market.

This study is available for immediate delivery for $1,495. To purchase, please contact Jim Feldhan at 602-997-0337 or Jimf@Semico.com, and reference MP125-05, Portable Media Players, Multimedia to Go.

About Semico

Semico Research Corp is a marketing and consulting research company located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Semico was founded in 1994 by a group of semiconductor industry experts. We have improved the validity of semiconductor product forecasts via technology roadmaps in end-use markets.

www.semico.com