New Yahoo!/SanDisk Player: Where's the Phone and Browser?

SanDisk (SNDK) - the #2 player in the space - partners up with Yahoo! (YHOO) to take on Apple (AAPL). My only question, frankly, is where on earth is Sony (SNE) (Walkman anyone?).

If Any Given Sunday (1999) taught us anything, it’s that the yards become harder to win as you get closer and closer to the end zone… and at 73% market share, I must say that Apple has a lot of share to lose, and Yahoo! and Sandisk make a formidable #2…

Here are a few of the features not shared by either iPod or Zune:

Personalized streaming LAUNCHcast radio

Unlimited music downloads for $12/month direct over WiFi from Yahoo! Music Unlimited

Dynamically updated “mix lists”

Share music recommendations with friends via Yahoo! Messenger (your friend doesn’t even need the Sansa Connect)

Photos from Flickr

This is all nice and dandy, but didn't Yahoo!/SNDK stop short? Sandisk is all about flash memory, Yahoo! all about entertainment; but why not bring a telco into the mix and make this into a phone/browser? Recall that a week or two ago, Yahoo! made a big splash in wireless, the one area where some say Yahoo! is ahead of Google in search.

If I am SanDisk - #2 at 9% in digital music players - or Yahoo! - #2 in search with 30% market share - I’d look for an iPod killer/Google (GOOG) killer respectively, and seeing how the iPhone will rightfully or wrongfully get much buzz upon launch this year, I’d make sure I’d have plans to turn this into a phone/PDA/web browser pretty soon. Who knows, maybe that’s already in the works.

Disclosure: I’ve owned shares of Sandisk in the past. Also own Yahoo! as we speak.

Comments

[Tom B:]

I don't see anything new here. Delivery vs WiFi does not constitute "new" unless it makes my life better.

2007 Apr 10 11:21 AM

[mike hough:]

Another typical M$ analysis of what users shell out money for.

Result, "Users want more features".

Sorry but that is not market research. Has anyone met anyone who has even seen a Zune?

2007 Apr 10 01:45 PM