News

Olympus Bows Out of MP3 Player Market

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 at 1:30 PM - by

Olympus announced on Wednesday that is it leaving the MP3 player market. The company stated that it couldn't match Apple's dominance in the digital music player market, according to a Reuters article. It also noted that its net profit dropped dramatically compared to last year.

Olympus took its biggest hit in the MP3 player and digital camera markets. In an effort to shore up profits, the company decided to drop MP3 players from its product line up, and focus instead on higher-end model digital cameras.

Olympus isn't the first company to fall prey to the iPod's popularity. Creative Technology announced earlier in the week that it was refocusing its MP3 efforts towards profitability instead of market share.

11 comments from the community.

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Billy K said:

member since 06 May 2004 with 297 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 2:56 pm

[Apple rolls up sleeves]

"Alright! Who's next? What you lookin' at Rio?!"

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macinnerd said:

member since 15 Jun 2005 with 1742 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:00 pm

I think that if anyone should be blown out of the MP3 player market, it's Creative. Thir products are just so bad, they don't deserve to stay in existence.

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Engine Joe said:

member since 29 Jun 2004 with 413 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:09 pm

Not sure I've ever even seenan Olympus mp3 player...

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macinnerd said:

member since 15 Jun 2005 with 1742 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:13 pm

I know that I haven't...

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 3:19 pm

Well, you know what the main problem with Olympus players was?

You couldn't play 'Doom' on them!

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mrhooks said:

member since 28 Jul 2003 with 273 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:00 pm

Quote:
Not sure I've ever even seenan Olympus mp3 player...

It was the m:robe, a crappy mp3 player combined with a crappy camera, or something like that.

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Dreadnought said:

member since 01 Jan 2005 with 162 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:11 pm

Check out David Pogue's review of this PoC in the NYT (Registration required):

Music Player Adds a Lens and a Riddle

The video review is really quite funny too (RP or WMP needed, unfortunately).

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Nov 10, 2005 1:02 am

Another ass kicked, another name taken...

Olympus actually makes pretty good cameras, though. They just aren't marketing the heck out of them like Canon, Sony, etc.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:32 am

What a laugh, I've just read Pogue's comments...no wonder Olympus got out of the market...iPod RULES.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Nov 18, 2005 10:16 pm

you are all emos and are smoking crack

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Nov 29, 2005 7:35 pm

craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack

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