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Samsung: On second thought...
Exec contradicts earlier reports, says company won't launch its own music service, but does plan to offer "support" to partners like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Napster.
Less than a week after confirmed reports that his company planned to launch its own iTunes-like music download service, the head of Samsung's digital media division said today the consumer electronics giant won't launch its own service but will instead help improve those of its partners.
The ordeal centers on Samsung's frustration that its myriad portable music players lost its lead in the MP3 player market it pioneered and doesn't have an iTunes-like music service to bolster its paltry market share.
Apple's line of iPod players have an estimated 75 percent market share, while iTunes has 84 percent market share among music download services.
Last Friday, Choi Gee-sung, the president of Samsung's digital media division, told the Korea Times newspaper that his company was working on an iTunes competitor, citing Samsung's strong sales numbers in Asian countries where iTunes is not offered. The company later confirmed those comments.
But today after a meeting with analysts, Choi said there had been a misunderstanding and that Samsung it merely plans to offer technical support to marketing partners like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Napster.
"We are not at all interested in a music service ourselves," he said to reporters, according to Reuters. "But we plan to offer technical support to our partners to make their services easier and fancier and that would increase our hardware sales."
"Our partners have failed to provide competitive software like iTunes," he continued.
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