Global reasearch company Strategy Analytics (SA) concludes that Apple's iPod is not threatened by the current generation of mobile music devices. In the company's latest mobile application benchmark report, "," the firm said its advanced wireless buyer panel benchmark evaluation concluded that first generation mobile music devices "receive a failing grade on both sound quality and feature usability." SA performed head to head benchmarks of the iPod against 4 leading mobile music enabled devices, including the Samsung E720, O2 XM, SEMC V800 and the SPV500. "The 02 XM leads for music feature usability, while the Samsung E720 was rated best overall among a relatively weak set of music phone contenders."

Chris Ambrosio, Vice President of device research, added, "With a 20-plus point performance gap in perceived music quality, handset vendors and operators must do better to realize their visions of mobile music revenues and share support. The next wave of devices from Sony Ericsson (Walkman W600) and Motorola, among others, will have to cross the quality chasm, and provide dedicated music hardware to overcome the weaknesses of these first generation products."