A research note from Needham analyst Charles Wolf today indicates that Apple may be close to releasing Windows syncing software for its popular iPod MP3 player.
“Based on a reasonable assessment of demand, the iPod could capture about 10 percent of the portable music player market,” Wolf concluded. He said that the projections of 10 percent market share in 2003 translate to $115 million in earnings and sales of $650 million, according to a News.com article.
While companies such as MediaFour have released software that will allow people to use the iPod with Windows, research analyst Tim deal doesn’t think they will be able to compete with Apple’s own creation.
“I think third-party developers are going to be unable to fully re-create the user experience — the ease of use and the stability of the Mac platform,” Deal said.
Apple last updated the iPod in March doubling the storage capacity to 10GB, allowing for up to 2,000 songs to be stored on the device. The iPod software has also been updated giving users the option to store contacts from Entourage, Palm Desktop or Mac OS X’s Address Book and adding 20 equalizer presets.