SanDisk CEO Eli Harari has admitted that his company is unlikely to ever surpass Apple in MP3 player market share. In an interview with Fortune, Harari said, “You can’t out-iPod the iPod.” Despite the admission, SanDisk remains the number two MP3 manufacturer, with its Sansa players outselling other well-known rivals such as the Microsoft Zune. Perhaps more importantly, the report notes, the Sansa helped legitimize flash memory as a storage technology for mobile devices, which in turn sparked licensing demand for SanDisk’s patents. Apple’s iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod touch, and iPhone all use flash-based storage.
Speck has announced that its CandyShell case for the second-generation iPod touch is now available. The hybrid case features a one-piece design with a soft rubber interior and hard outer shell in contrasting colors, protection for the sleep/wake and volume buttons, and open access to all other ports and controls. Available in two colors, Speck’s CandyShell for iPod touch 2G sells for $35; for more information, see our full review.
ESPN has released its new ESPN ScoreCenter application for the iPhone and iPod touch. ScoreCenter offers users up-to-date scoring for more than 500 sports leagues around the world, including MLB, NFL, NBA, Premier League, NASCAR, Golf, Tennis, and more, as well as game details such as stats, leaderboards, box scores, and scoring summaries. ESPN ScoreCenter is available now as a free download from the App Store.
The iPhone is the fifth most popular mobile phone brand globally among teens, the first time Apple’s phone has appeared in the top ten, according to a new survey. The Global Habbo Youth Survey 2009, conducted in April for the online virtual world Habbo Hotel, queried 112,000 teenagers in 30 countries and found that Nokia leads the market, but was down to 21% of responses compared to 29% a year ago, followed by Sony Ericsson, which also slipped, from 21% to 18%. Motorola dropped from third last year to sixth in this year’s rankings; RIM’s BlackBerry also made the top ten for the first time ever.