iRiver relaunches

 

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Posted on 10 Jan 2008 at 01:01

IRiver, the MP3 player manufacturer, is making a comeback after a two-year break. The company has shifted its attention away from pure audio devices to making portable media players.

"There was nothing in the MP3 player market that allowed us to differentiate our products," said Owen Kwon, senior manager of sales operations and partnerships at iRiver. "We've been working on our strategy, and creating several lines of products with extra features, such as GPS and WiFi."

Most of the company's new products are designed to play video, as well as audio. The real work has gone into designing different user interfaces. The P10 player, for example, lets you rearrange its interface by dragging buttons around the touchscreen, while the Spinn player has a joystick that can be operated in three dimensions.

While iRiver has been designing video products, so has its competition and all of Apple's new players are designed to play downloaded videos. Kwon doesn't think that this is a problem, though, and believes that iRiver's products offer a lot more.

"We try to implement the best user experience," he said. "With Apple's products the interface is set, but with ours you can do things like drag and drop a picture as the background to you interface."

The company isn't just relying on clever interfaces, though, and has invested in new technologies. The IAMOLED player, as its name suggests, has a 4.1in OLED screen, giving it proper blacks and bright whites. It will be available later this year. Many of the new players are also capable of receiving digital TV and radio.

The range of products has also expanded, and now includes GPS navigation systems that can also play video. The Most striking new product type is the Unit 2 player. This has a 60GB hard disk for storing audio and video, and a detachable wireless screen, so you can view your films wherever you want. A built-in webcam lets you make video calls, while the remote control doubles-up as a telephone and wireless keyboard. It's expected to cost around $700 (approximately £350) when launched in the US in early 2009 and Europe thereafter.

We'll bring you full reviews of some of the new products soon.

Click here for our full coverage from CES 2008

Author: David Ludlow in Las Vegas