Today the Apple iPod is leading the market in the portable music player industry, having sold around 15 million iPods since they were released. But some people are now saying like the Apple Macintosh once an industry leader the iPod will also become a memory. Looking to the near future at the main competition for the Apple iPod are the new age mobile phones. Not only do they have the normal features of a mobile phone but they’re also adopting a higher standard of digital camera and a built in MP3 player. Unless Apple decides to bring the iPod into the mobile phone industry, we may see them move to the back of the shelf at ebay.
Below are an example of some already available mobile phones that incorporate the higher standard digital camera and MP3 player:
• Motorola MPx220
• Siemens SX1
• Sony Ericsson P910i
• Sony Ericsson W800i
Looking at the Sony Ericsson W800i, this mobile phone offers a 2 mega pixel digital camera with video recording capability. Also a built in MP3 player and the phone comes with a 512mb Memory Stick™ PRO Duo. This maybe only capable of holding around 150 music tracks or 10-15 full length CDs. You can upgrade the memory stick to 1GB doubling the storage capacity.
Obviously the Sony Ericsson W800i does not have the storage capacity of a 60GB iPod video, but looking at the technology trends everything is getting smaller with higher storage capacity.
Once mobile phones have a higher storage limit (60GB) they will also have the capability of playing MP4. Then your every day mobile phone will be a Phone, Camera, MP3 music player and an MP4 video player which fits in your pocket.
http://www.ipodresourcecenter.com/Is_the_Apple_iPod_Going_to_Last_or_Burn_Out_Like.html
