O iTunes vai ter concorrência da Samsung

(via Digital Music News)

"Samsung Prepares iTunes Music Store Competitor

Apple flash memory partner Samsung Electronics now plans to create its own version of the iTunes Music Store. The news is confirmed by The Korea Times, and even comes from the horse’s mouth, company president Choi Gee-sung. “We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service like iTunes,” Gee-sung recently said. “Our number one priority is to help customers use our products with ease.” Gee-sung was speaking to journalists at a recent press call. He described China and Southeast Asia as potentially strong markets for such a service, as iTunes is not yet available in those territories.

Despite selling flash memory to Apple, Samsung is big enough to have its own intentions in the digital music market. The company is preparing to release several larger-capacity players, and aims to use its music service to grab 25-30 percent of the global MP3 player market by 2007. Samsung also revealed a new 36-story “digital product” research and development center during the press event, another indication of a very serious initiative ahead. But the timing is interesting: on October 15th, Apple and Samsung were reported to have been discussing a strategic $3.8 billion joint investment in flash memory manufacturing. A threat of regulatory review allegedly ended the talks. (Story by news analyst Jonny Evans)".