Digital audio market in flux

Electronic News, March 9, 1998 by Peter Brown

Exit Begins

Shortly after that, Opti and S3 exited the audio business as well, claiming the need to focus more on their core businesses. Meanwhile, in an attempt to hold onto its PC audio market share, Creative Labs acquired Ensoniq--also a player in the audio market--late last year for approximately $77 million.

"We expected this to happen six to 12 months down the road from here, not now," said Aureal's Mr. Schneider. "We were really surprised to see so many of them pull out or start lawsuits or whatever, and all at once. As with any market segment the strong parts have risen to the top and the weak ones have lost steam. Audio isn't a big budget item in computers and everyone is fighting it out to be cost competitive and still make a decent living. It's hard to compete at this level."