By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net
SINGAPOREAN music peripheral maker Creative Technology launched in the Philippines its cheapest MP3 player called the Zen Stone, which will also compete with the new clip-on Apple iPod Shuffle.
The Creative Zen Stone, so named for its curved pebble-like design, nearly has the same design concepts as Apple’s new iPod Shuffle, including the 1 gigabyte model and different color schemes, form factor and even the operational controls.
However, its main come-on is its price, which is $39 or roughly P2,000, less than half the price of the iPod Shuffle.
Creative Technology Asia associate sales manager Mack Hee said the Zen Stone is targeted mainly at price-conscious buyers who do not have the budget to buy the more expensive iPod Shuffle.
Hee also said the Zen Stone is easier to use with drag-and-drop controls for the PC. However, a special software called Creative Media Lite, downloadable from the Creative website, could be necessary to rip songs from CDs.
Hee added that the entry-level audiophile market in the Philippines for Zen Stone is big enough to compete with the iPod Shuffle, as well as other MP3 players in the same category. In particular are Taiwanese-made 1GB MP3 players that go between P2,000 to P3,000.
Meanwhile, Hee said that Creative’s more expensive MP3 player, the Zen Neeon series, is performing well in the Philippine market, despite the presence of Apple’s iPod nano MP3 players and other similar devices.
“We’re expecting growth this year as we aggressively push for our hardware,” Hee said.
Creative’s official distributor in the Philippines is Axis Global.
June 19th, 2007 at 10:38 am
[...] Villafania blogs about the new Creative Zen Stone MP3 player in Tech [...]
June 24th, 2007 at 2:07 am
[...] it is willing to pay for half of that slice of the market just to get back on its feet. It recently introduced the Zen Stone, the company’s smallest MP3 player — not to mention the cheapest. It is also the first [...]
September 14th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Creative Zen V Plus is great!!! Initially, I owned a Creative Muvo TX FM with a 256MB capacity. The sound were superb. With its great capability and performance, I upgrade to the Zen V Plus with its 4GB capacity. Now I can play more of my trance music collection. You will surely love to try this. Its worth your money.
October 4th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
hi, good day.
where in the philippines i can buy a creative mp3 player accessory armband for zen nano plus.
thanks
jasper