iPod Continues to Dominate Industry

Apple continued to dominate the digital music player industry in the second quarter, data from the NPD Group indicated Thursday. The iPod had a 75.6 percent share in the United States, over eight times more than its nearest competitor. Following Apple was SanDisk, with 9.7 percent, and Creative with a 4.7 percent share. Rounding out the top five were Samsung and Sony, with a 2.5 and 1.9 percent market share, respectively.

NPD Group warned, however, that Apple's dominance may begin to crumble as more mobile phone manufacturers begin to integrate music player functionality into their devices. Still, the analyst firm said the industry should be able to hold its own as standalone players offer more features, capacity, better DRM support, and easier user interfaces when compared to phones.