iPod under threat

Apple rival seeks US ban claiming patent violation

17 May 06 - Apple's iPod could soon be banned from the shelves if rival a company gets its way.

Creative Technology has asked a court in the States to prevent Apple from selling or marketing its hugely successful iPods over there.

The company claims that the iPod scroll function for searching for music violates the patent for its own Zen MP3 player, which it applied for in 2001 and was then granted last year.

The complaint has been lodged with the San Francisco District Court. Apple has not made an  official comment on the legal action.

"Consumers ultimately want to have access to music, and they want to have it available on a device that they have."
Nick Watts, Music Brigade

Nick Watts, UK vice president for digital music service Music Brigade, says this tussle between the two companies has echoes of another battle:

"It's kind of going back to when we had VHS and Beta Max wars. Consumers ultimately want to have access to music, and they want to have it available on a device that they have."

He added that it was high time for another major player in the ever-expanding MP3 market:

"Apple have had much of the market to themselves for the last couple of years, and although they have helped grow and develop this market place, I think that the time is right for a serious competitor to come in."

Meanwhile, Apple are also facing a commercial threat from other quarters: music channel MTV are launching a digital download service today to compete with the techo giant's own iTunes.

It's called Urge and is aimed at the growing number of people who use MP3 players other than the iPod.

But MTV's got a huge challenge ahead: last month iTunes sold more than one billion tunes since launching three years ago.
 



Kellie Redmond