Apple continues to lead the U.S. digital music player market in the second quarter of 2006 with 75.6 percent share, according to a recent study by the NPD Group. “Apple has done a great job of focusing consumers’ attention on digital music in their products through millions of dollars in advertising,” said Ross Rubin, an NPD analyst. Mobile phone companies may eat away at Apple’s sizable lead, however, as they continue to unveil new phones with built-in music playing capability, according to ITworld.com. SanDisk achieved 9.7 percent market share taking second place below Apple, while Creative holds third place with 4.3 percent of the digital music player market. Samsung obtained 2.5 percent of the market, and Sony managed to take 1.9 percent.
