Samsung Electronics will roll out six new models in the MP3 music player market in the second half of ’05 and plans up to 10 more next year to catch up with leader Apple Computer, an official said on Thursday.

Samsung Electronics introduced six new additions to its eight-model range of Yepp players in the first six months, in an effort to treble its annual sales to more than 5m units. But the target is still a sixth of the expected ’05 sales of rival Apple iPod player. The thumb to pocket-sized gadgets of both Samsung and Apple also face growing competition from mobile phone makers, who are adding MP3 music functions to high-end models.

“We will have a total of 12 new MP3 models this year and plan to introduce 5-to-7 flash type models and some two hard disk drive models in ’06,” Park Hyun-joo, an assistant manager of the Seoul-based company’s marketing division, said.

Samsung has been striving to win market share in the fast-growing and profitable MP3 market, which the South Korean company estimated at 45m units in ’05.

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will roll out six new models in the MP3 music player market in the second half of 2005 and plans up to 10 more next year in a bid to catch up with leader Apple Computer, an official said on Thursday.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s most valuable technology firm outside of the United States, introduced six new additions to its eight-model range of Yepp players in the first six months, in an effort to treble its annual sales to more than 5 million units.

But the target is still a sixth of the expected 2005 sales of rival Apple’s iPod player.

The thumb- to pocket-size gadgets of both Samsung and Apple also face growing competition from mobile phone makers who are adding MP3 music functions to high-end models.

“We will have a total of 12 new MP3 models this year and plan to introduce five to seven flash-type models and some two-hard-disk-drive models in 2006,” Park Hyun-joo, an assistant manager of the Seoul-based company’s marketing division, told Reuters.

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Satellite radio service XM announced on Tuesday that it would partner with Samsung to introduce MP3 players with satellite radio capability by year’s end. The players would use XM’s Connect-and-Play technology and come with a home accessory kit to allow access to the satellite radio.

“XM’s award-winning programming and technology provide us with a unique opportunity to offer products that empower consumers and fundamentally change the way people listen to music,” D.J. Oh, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics of America, said in a statement.

The devices would also allow the user to record XM radio content when it is connected to a home or car accessory kit. Unconnected, it would act as a normal MP3 player, but would also allow playback of recorded content, as well as MP3 or WMA files.

The only other device to allow recording of XM content is Delphi’s MyFi, however it does not have MP3 capability. XM’s terms of service state that recording of service content is prohibited unless through an approved device.

With the Samsung players, users would be able to select certain songs to download after hearing them on an XM radio channel.

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Samsung Electronics Corp. yesterday denied deep discounts that it is strategically slashing prices of its MP3 players in overseas markets in pursuit of global market share.

An unnamed industry insider suggested that Samsung may be using low-cost approach targeted against mid-tier companies. The insider excluded Apple Computer Inc., the global leader in MP3 player market.

Samsung strongly denied the report, arguing prices can°Øt be same in every market due to difference in tax and logistics structures, as well as after-service and average consumer prices.

Samsung expects global shipments of MP3 players to reach 35 million to 45 million units in 2005. The company forecasts the shipments will rise to 55 million units in 2006 thanks to growth in demand for both flash memory and hard disk drive based products. Samsung expects its sales to jump to $700-$750 million in 2005, up from about $250 million in 2004. The company aims to sell more than 5 million MP3 players this year, up from 1.7 million units in 2004.