Korean MP3 Players Get Cheaper After Apple Shock

The prices of Korean-made MP3 players have come down after the body-blow dealt them by Apple’s release of its new cheaper iPod Nano last month.

Consumer information website Danawa’s survey of online shopping malls published Tuesday shows the price of a NAND Flash memory players slipped by up to one-third. Cowon System’s iAUDIO G3 (2GB), fell 30 percent to W209,000 (about US$209) early this month. Reigncom’s iRiver T20 (1GB) dropped 10 percent from W240,000 in August to W215,000. Samsung Electronics’ YP-F1ZW (1GB) also went down 20 percent from W300,000 in April to W203,000.

The price of hard-disk type MP3 players is also falling. Reigncom’s H10 (6GB) is now 20 percent cheaper than on its release in July. Samsung Electronics’ YH-820MW (4GB) also lost 25 percent of its release price in March. Manufacturers deny they officially slashed prices. A Danawa spokesman said the company merely surveyed retail prices, but it was possible manufacturers had nothing to do with the reductions.

Industry insiders say distributors lowered prices as the iPod Nano sold for 30 percent less than rival products.

url: http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200510/200510040017.html

If you remember a while back I posted an article about Ipods In Korea

http://mikemcstay.blogspot.com/2005/09/ipods-are-invading-korea.html

You can see what a manafacture said then and what they have done now.

I was currious so I took my IPOD to my school and showed my students, The majority loved the IPOD, some thought it was too big but when I showed them 20gb, they could imagine holding all of their favorite songs on their own IPOD. When I told them the price it was cheaper than their 512 mb ones.

Just thought I would update the story and show you another lie..