Sandisk vs the iPod (And Why No One Should Laugh)

Where others see obstacles, others see opportunities.... Sandisk feels the time to move is now.

Almost every mp3 player maker has fallen by the wayside or fell to playing second fiddle because of the iPod. Companies like Creative found that the waters are very rough against Apple. Now it is Sandisk's turn but unlike the others, Sandisk has a weapon they don't have... the flash drives themselves. You see Sandisk makes it own drives and are not dependent on other manufacturers according to Business World. They have their manufacturing partnership with Toshiba comprising about (70% of supply) in making these chips plus backup supplies from Samsung in case the market demand goes steeper than expected.

Sandisk thinks of long-term gains in joining the mp3 player industry.

"For Harari, this attack on the MP3 market isn't about short-term market-share gains. Harari takes a longer view. Ultimately, he says, the many gadgets populating pockets and purses for e-mail and music all will migrate to one universal device that does it all -- and that device will be a wireless phone. When that happens, SanDisk will be ready with its own flash-memory offerings targeting that market."

Sandisk will have its work cut out for them in this challenge but the logic to move in this segment is there and the possiblity of eating a piece of the mp3 player market pie presents itself.

Source: Will SanDisk Sour Apple's Tune?
Technorati tags: flash memory / mp3 players / sandisk / apple