Digital Home Thoughts: Creative Reports Sagging Earnings in Battle with iPod

"Creative Technology on Tuesday reported a wider loss than analysts expected after its music players were outsold 23 to one by Apple Computer iPods in the United States. The net loss was $21 million in the first quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a profit of $691,000 a year earlier, Creative said. The result exceeded the widest loss forecast of $18.6 million in a Bloomberg survey of four analysts. Sales fell 14 percent to $241.5 million...Creative predicted it would return to profit this quarter, after two years of slumping earnings. The company's chief executive, Sim Wong Hoo, gave up trying to topple Apple as the market leader and will introduce accessories for the iPod by January, after receiving $100 million from Apple to settle patent lawsuits."

There's just nothing easy about being in a fight to the death with an 800 pound gorilla like the iPod - the sad thing is that in the past 12 months, Creative's devices have gotten much better, but it's hard to reverse a downward trend. I've owned three Creative audio players, and the Zen Vision:M I own is the first I'd say truly rocks on almost every level. I have a Toshiba Gigebeat S, and I prefer the Zen Vision:M in almost every way, because it's simply more functional, supports more of my "stuff", and relies less on a desktop PC for some functions. The power comes at a price though: for instance, I love having the ability to delete content off the Vision:M. I'm one of those "Type A" people who, when finished watching a TV show or movie, wants to delete it. The Gigabeat S can't do that, which frustrates me. That power is a weakness at retail though: every Zen Vision:M I've seen at retail is empty because some idiot deleted all the content on it. Tough to demo a device with no content!