iPod shuffle threatened by Sony's new "Walkman Bean"
updated 03:20 pm EDT, Thu August 18, 2005
Sony Walkman Bean
Sony today unveiled its new which compete directly with the iPod shuffle. In an attempt to wrestle market dominance from Apple, the palm-sized Walkman Bean is available in storage capacities of 512MB and 1GB--the same as the Shuffle--but boasts a 50 hours of battery life. Sony offers the players in four colors: Tropical Ice (blue), Cotton Candy (pink), Licorice (black), and Coconut (white). Hoping to upstage the shuffle, claiming that the Bean is less complicated than "other players", Sony hopes to portray the image of cool and hip as it markets this player to existing and potential shuffle owners. Sony is already accepting pre-orders of the devices which will ship in the middle of September; the 512MB model is priced at £80 while the 1GB model goes for £100.
