Philips forays into digicams

AMSTERDAM: Philips, Europe's largest consumer electronics maker, is moving into digital still cameras and high-capacity portable music players similar to Apple's iPod. Next week, Philips will unveil the new products aimed at young consumers, having identified a divide between its traditional customers who buy conventional TVs and HiFi components and younger customers interested in personal and portable products.

The move also means Philips is moving into the fast growing market for digital still cameras, after it decided five years ago not to move into what was then a loss-making business.

The new cameras will be cheap, mass market devices rather than expensive products with high picture detail. The so-called Key 007 and 008 are designed to be worn round the neck on a key-cord. Two other, similarly designed, Key devices are MP3 music players. "These products are not about creating the perfect photograph," said one industry source.

Philips's own semiconductor unit produces the chipsets used in the new products and which are already applied in mobile camera phones.

Philips will also launch an iPod-style portable music player with a hard disk capacity of 20 Gigabytes, which can store thousands of songs. Philips is among the first major consumer electronics brands to enter this segment, opened up by Apple's iPod over a year ago.

The so-called HDD 100, designed for music uploads through a Windows-based personal computer, is already on limited sale in some Asian markets and is scheduled to hit Europe in July.

Philips had aimed to sell it at 499 euros ($583), almost the same as Apple's latest iPod, but sources close to the company say pricing will be competitive. Similarly featured products like Creative Nomad Jukebox, Archos Jukebox and eDigital Odessey are available at around $300 before tax.

Philips, which helped invent the CD, recently launched tiny portable music players with U.S. sports gear maker Nike. Inside is a traditional MP3 music player with limited song storage capacity.

© Reuters