An interesting report was just issued by ABI Research this morning.
The report states that digital audio players need to be more like their ancestors....portable. Vamsi Sistla, director of residential entertainment research said "Today's so-called portables are still tied by an umbilical cord to the computer and a broadband connection. The industry should address these shortcomings."
Enter WiFi, whose networking capabilities are starting to show up in some of our most precious audio gadgets. Analyst Joseph Yau said "Although such models are still few in number, they will become a flood in 2006."
So is the audio device feeling too sexy for the PC?
The report concludes, the portable industry is growing explosively, he adds, both for equipment vendors and for content providers. "Yahoo's entry into the downloadable music market is a solid confirmation of that fact. One important development from such content providers is the bundling of free and extra downloads for annual subscribers. Apple, with its single 99 cent purchase model, will have to watch out."
I'm sure Apple is fully aware of the fact that music lovers and iPod'ers will be ready to toss the ol' Firewire/USB cable out the window and will want a device that can download music on the road, similar to how you can download ringtones to your cellular phone. And knowing Apple, I'm sure they have that VoIPod, WiPod or some such device already in the works.
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