Jens of Sweden bites the dust

Following Rio's exit from the MP3 player world, Scandinavian MP3 player manufacturer Jens of Sweden has filed for bankruptcy. Some bad luck with partners (Korean manufacturer and an American reseller) plus the unenviable task of competing with Apple for the Swedish and greater Europe market has shut down the firm famous for producing the 24k gold version of the MP-400. Too bad, cause we actually liked their stylish flash-based MP3 players.

And MP3 bigwigs Creative, despite a flurry of cool products and a multi-million dollar ad campaign in '05, is struggling financially. Boy, I'm glad I don't own an MP3 player company in this vicious market and I say that knowing that about 85% of the American market is still untapped.