Next month, BenQ will launch four new models of its Joybee MP3 player, including the Joybee 720, which will be the company's first color-screen model equipped with a built-in hard disk drive.

With the addition of the four new models, BenQ will have a total of 12 Joybee models in its product lineup, according to Danny Yao, BenQ's Taiwan managing director. BenQ expects to sell 120,000 Joybee MP3 players in Taiwan this year and account for 20% of the domestic market, Yao indicated.

If BenQ attains its sales target, the company will be the top MP3-player brand in Taiwan, beating out local brands such as MSI (Micro-Star International), Acer, Tatung and Asustek, as well as foreign brands such as iRiver and iPod, Yao said.

Color screens and a flash-memory capacity of 512MB will be among the development trends for MP3 players next year, Yao predicted. In addition, the proportion of MP3 players equipped with a hard drive will rise from 5% this year to 10-15% in 2005.

BenQ uses a microdrive made by Seagate for its Joybee 720, but the company plans to add one or two more microdrive suppliers, such as Cornice, since the global supply of microdrives is currently not stable, Yao noted.

BenQ expects its domestic sales to grow to 230,000 MP3 players in 2005, and the company aims to account for 30% of the Taiwan market, according to Yao.

From DigiTimes