| A new wave of mobile phones equipped with | | | | such as Apple's iPod and its competitors can |
| tiny yet powerful hard disk drives is | | | | store as much as 60GB of digital music, |
| threatening to put an end to the meteoric | | | | companies like Toshiba and Seagate are |
| rise of the iPod as the public's favourite | | | | already developing handset-friendly hard |
| portable digital music player.When you look | | | | drives that measure around one inch and will |
| at the typical consumer, there are three | | | | soon be able to match this capacity.With this |
| things that they may come back to their house | | | | level of memory, you can replicate all the |
| for if they have left one of them behind: | | | | audio functions currently found in a |
| their wallet, keys and mobile phone.Now the | | | | standalone MP3 player. So the question |
| cellular industry is trying to get to the | | | | becomes, why do you need two separate gadgets |
| point where even the wallet and the keys are | | | | to accomplish the same goal? ."Both the |
| part of the handset. There is a clear trend | | | | standalone MP3 player and the mobile phone |
| by which the mobile phone is positioning | | | | are pretty much the same form-factor - play |
| itself as the singular device that you take | | | | music - the mobile offers an increasing |
| with you at all times.Two years ago Samsung | | | | number of features, with playing music being |
| Electronics became the first handset maker to | | | | just one of them.This new breed of mobiles |
| incorporate a hard disk drive (HDD) inside | | | | has the potential not only to rival but also |
| one of its models, featuring 1.5GB of data | | | | surpass the MP3 player as the portable music |
| storage. Soon afterwards Nokia was launching | | | | device of choice, but it wont happen |
| its N91 phone/music player with an embedded | | | | overnight. There'll be a timeframe during |
| 4GB HDD. Then Samsung responded again with an | | | | which the cellphone will still need to catch |
| 8GB device (the SGH-i310), which is scheduled | | | | up technologically with established MP3 |
| for a European launch during the second half | | | | players. |
| of 2006.Although current portable MP3 players | | | | |