Will iPod maintain its status?

Today I noticed two pieces of information that at the first glance didn't have much in common, but second thought was little different. Take a look at this story how Apple is decreasing production volumes for iPod and then read this Nokia's press release about them sponsoring Grammy awards.

So what?

For quite a while Nokia's message to consumers has been that they shouldn't buy separate devices for email, mapping, music, imaging and so on. Just buy a smartphone that can do all this and much more, they say. Meanwhile iPod's have been dominating the music device market with ultimate user experience and tight integration with iTunes store. Last year Nokia launched "Comes with Music" initiative, opened Music Store in UK, launched several music optimized terminals and accessories and got good news coverage and market attention with all this. Now more marketing effort is put to Grammy-sponsoring and who knows what they will launch at MWC in just a couple of weeks. Is iPod market suddenly saturated or has Nokia's marketing message reached its audience and made consumers to rethink smartphones as music devices? Or maybe rumors from Apple production volumes are just...rumors.

//Harri