AsiaPac MP3 Player Market to Shrink in 2012

While portable MP3 players are still one of the most popular consumer electronics devices around the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region, MP3 player shipment growth is expected to slow to just 4.4% in 2009 before finally turning slightly negative in 2012. According to IDC‘s report Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) Portable Audio (MP3) Player 2007-2012 Forecast and Analysis (Doc#AP654103Q), pressure from competing devices as well as market saturation in countries like Australia and Singapore will contribute to this.

"MP3 player shipments in the region grew 21.6% in 2006 before falling to 8.4% in 2007, and we expect that the market will only grow 6.3% this year to reach 19.6 million units," said Bryan Ma, Director of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Personal Systems Research. "This is not to suggest a lack of interest in music, however. On the contrary, music playback remains a hot ticket in Asia, but convergence and competition from other devices such as music phones will likely force the market growth for standalone MP3 players to slow down and finally shrink slightly in 2012."

"Despite such a dramatic slowdown, large markets like China and India will remain highly promising for some time, especially due to a growing awareness among the burgeoning youth market," added Tsu Ann Tham, Associate Analyst of IDC’s Asia/Pacific Personal Systems Research. "Flash-based players will continue to remain the leading type of portable MP3 player across the region; with a sweet spot concentrated around basic devices between 1GB and 2GB and without a display."

Shipments of HDD-based players will continue to decline, primarily because the latter are expected to get phased out in mature markets by 2011. But the products will continue to evolve, perhaps following the lead of the Korean market, where some users are also moving towards video-enabled Portable Media Players (PMPs).

Apple‘s marketing machine of course continues to help propel the vendor ahead, thus forcing competitors such as Creative and even China-focused vendor Newsmy onto the defensive. However, Samsung has emerged as a strong second-place alternative to Apple’s iPods with growth in nearly all markets around the region, while Unibit moved into fourth place for the region, following Newsmy, despite not having a presence outside of China. Moreover, the resilience of the small local portable MP3 player vendors in China, Taiwan, and Korea, is defying expectations of market consolidation in the region.

AsiaPac (excluding Japan) Portable Compressed Audio Player Shipments
by Device Type, 2006-2012 (in thousands of units)

(Source: IDC Asia/Pacific, 2008)