Scottsdale, Arizona – Fuelled by the availability of inexpensive flash-based players, growing broadband penetration, and an increasing supply of affordable, legitimate music and video online, the market for portable media equipment in Japan will grow strongly in the next few years, reports In-Stat. The Japanese PMP/MP3/PDP player market retail volume is expected to reach nearly 1.5 million units by 2011, up from 760,000 units in 2007. However music-enabled cell phones may cut into this market, the high-tech market research firm says. “While video capable, dedicated PMP/MP3 players seem safe from multimedia cell phone competition, there is a significant opportunity for cellular operators to capture those consumers who are considering audio-only MP3 players,” says Alice Zhang, In-Stat analyst. Recent research by In-Stat found that more than a quarter of Japanese consumers would like to use a multimedia mobile phone as a substitute for a multimedia player. Consumer interest in video will constrain the growth of audio-only MP3 players in Japan and as PMP prices drop, more Japanese consumers will choose to purchase a PMP, it predicts.