Portable Media Players Market Forecast and Platform Analysis

SUMMARY

Portable Media Players are beginning to emerge under a wide variety of names; MP4 Player, Portable Video Player, Portable Media Center and Handheld Multimedia Player. Like the diverse number of monikers for these platforms, they ship in a broad array of shapes and sizes, with differing feature sets, screen sizes, resolutions, technical capabilities, performance profiles and media support.

While worldwide shipments of these devices barely registered on the radar screen just a year ago, S2 Data Corp is forecasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 60% through 2009. In the report, "Portable Media Players: Market Forecast and Platform Analysis" S2 Data Corp provides semiconductor companies and OEMs with a detailed perspective on the worldwide market dynamics, including a five year unit and ASP forecast, as well as the first-ever breakout of the emerging platform segmentation. Understand how the market will segment and what the dominant feature sets and form factors will be.

In addition to a detailed market analysis, the report also provides analysis of the technology trends impacting design decisions over the next two year design cycle. This study examines many of the critical design issues that will face PMP manufacturers and chip makers, such as; the integration of wireless capabilities, support for live digital broadcast TV, video codec evolution, video performance profiles including encode and decode resolutions and frame rates. The report also examines the future of still image format as well as LCD screen sizes.

This report is an invaluable resource for platform strategists, marketing executives, system architects, product managers and financial analysts.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Executive 4
• Market Forecast and Dynamics....................................................................................................5
  • Price...........6
  • Ease of Use ...............................................................................................................................7
  • Content.....8
  • New Features ...........................................................................................................................9
• Market Breakout ............................................................................................................................11
  • Entry Level Portable Video Clip Player (PVP)....................................................................11
  • Mainstream Portable Media Player (PMP) / Portable Media Center (PMC)..............13
  • Portable Media Tablet (PMT)...............................................................................................14
• Platform Architecture Choices....................................................................................................17
  • Video Codecs........................................................................................................................18
    • Proprietary vs. Industry Standard Codecs.................................................................18
    • Video Codec Choices .................................................................................................19
    • Factors Impacting Resolutions and Performance...................................................27
  • Evolution of PMP Screen Size and Resolutions .................................................................29
  • Still Images ..............................................................................................................................31
  • Digital Broadcast Video.......................................................................................................35
    • Market and Technology Drivers..................................................................................36
    • DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast -- Handheld) ..........................................................37
    • ISDB-T in Japan ..............................................................................................................38
    • Challenges and Conclusions ......................................................................................39
  • Wireless Interface Technologies..........................................................................................42
    • Potential Wireless User Models ....................................................................................42
    • Wireless Technology Choices......................................................................................43
    • Wireless Technology Conclusions ...............................................................................48
    • Wireless Adoption Rate Forecast................................................................................48
• System Block Diagrams.................................................................................................................50
• Appendix A -- Video Encode Codec, FPS and Resolution Forecast ....................................53
• Appendix B -- Video Decode Codec, FPS and Resolution Forecast ....................................55

LIST OF FIGURES

• Figure 1: Portable Media Player Forecast (millions of units) and ASP........................7
• Figure 2: ZVUE MP4 Video Player ...................................................................................12
• Figure 3: ARCHOS AV400 Pocket Video Recorder .....................................................14
• Figure 4: MobiNote DP7010 MP4 Player........................................................................16
• Figure 5: Wireless Penetration Rates in PMP Market ...................................................49
• Figure 6: Portable Media Player System Block Diagram -- Current ..........................50
• Figure 7: Portable Media Player System Block Diagram -- Future.............................51
• Figure 8: Portable Media Player System Block Diagram (Host Processor and Media Processor Design) -- Current.....................................................................................52

LIST OF TABLES

• Table 1: Portable Media Player Forecast (millions of units) .........................................5
• Table 2: Entry Level Portable Video Clip Player Forecast..........................................12
• Table 3: Mainstream PMP/PMC Forecast.....................................................................13
• Table 4: Portable Media Tablet Forecast .....................................................................15
• Table 5: Portable Media Player Screen Size and Resolution.....................................29
• Table A1: PMP Video Encode Codec, FPS, and Resolution Forecast .....................54
• Table B1: PMP Video Decode Codec, FPS, and Resolution Forecast.....................56