South Korean electronics giant Samsung will unveil its new portable music player on Sunday in a direct challenge to the iconic iPod, one of the world's best-selling products from US rival Apple. Samsung plans to introduce its flash memory-based YP-Z5 player on Sunday. The device is expected to be released first in the US . Europe will have to wait until late March and Asia until May to see the new contender for dominance of the lucrative MP3 market.

"The YP-Z5 displays Samsung's commitment to expanding the market possibilities in the portable digital audio space," said Mark Farish, a senior digital media marketing manager of Samsung Electronics America.



The YP-Z5's user interface was designed by a team led by Paul Mercer, a former Apple software designer who worked on the user interface for the original iPod.

The new device is made from aluminium, carries a 1.8-inch colour screen and holds up to 4GB of music. It uses rechargeable batteries.

Samsung has a way to go to steal market share from Apple though. The company has 4 per cent of the music player market, to Apple's 73 per cent.

Because Samsung uses Windows Media the new device is also compatible with subscription music services.