Research and Markets: Apple Dominates the Portable Digital Music Player Market

Business Wire, July 11, 2006

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c39283) has announced the addition of Understanding the Dominance of iPod(R) - A Consumer Perspective to their offering. E[acute accent]Apple's dominance of the portable digital music player (DMP) market has led pundits and competitors to try and deconstruct the iPod's "special sauce" - in other words, to identify what specifically continues to make the iPod so much more successful than other DMPs. E[acute accent]One way of going about this is to look more closely at the consumers who use (and choose not to use) iPods or other DMPs. This report does just that, providing a "snapshot" of DMP users in general and iPod users in particular; including why they purchased the device, how they use them, and their proclivity to switch brands on their next purchase. Furthermore, the report is broken down by three key age segments: 15-to-24, 25-to-34, and 35-to-50. E[acute accent]The data used herein was drawn from an August 2005 survey of more than 2,000 US Internet users that also own a cell phone - the overt focus of the larger primary study was to assess mobile usage habits among Internet households, a subject in which DMPs in general and the iPod specifically were an important consideration.

Topics Covered:

Key Findings

1.0 Introduction

2.0 Methodology

3.0 Overview of DMP Market
3.1 DMP Ownership among Internet Households
3.1.1 Brands of DMPs Used
3.2 Personal Use of DMPs
3.2.1 Brands of DMPs in Use among Respondents
3.3 A Look at iPod Owners
3.3.1 iPod Type
3.3.2 Reason for Selecting an iPod over Another Brand
3.3.3 Likelihood of Dumping Apple for Another DMP Brand

4.0 Profiling the Target Segments
4.1 Storage Characteristics
4.1.1 Storage Capacity of DMPs
4.1.2 Characteristics of Music Collection
4.2 General Usage
4.2.1 Listening Behavior
4.2.2 Transferring Digital Music to a DMP
4.3 Proclivity to Purchase a New DMP
4.4 Online Music Services
4.4.1 Services Used by DMP Owners
4.4.2 Downloading Behavior

5.0 Demographic and Psychographic Profile
5.1 Demographics
5.1.1 Gender & DMP Ownership
5.1.2 Ethnicity & DMP Ownership
5.1.3 Age & DMP Ownership
5.1.4 Employment Status & DMP Ownership
5.1.5 Income & DMP Ownership
5.1.6 Marital Status & DMP Ownership
5.1.7 Children in Household & DMP Ownership
5.1.8 Adults in Household & DMP Ownership
5.2 Psychographics
5.2.1 Hobbies & DMP Ownership
5.2.2 Favorite Types of Music

6.0 Reflections and Recommendations: The Waning "Cool Factor" of the
    iPod
6.1 Analyzing the "Cool Factor" Purchasers
6.2 Implications
6.2.1 For Apple
6.2.2 For the Rest

7.0 Appendix

List of Figures

E[acute accent]For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c39283