The brand which started the whole mobile music thing off is giving the iPod a jolly good kicking in the Land of the Rising Sun. The Sony Walkman, which used to be applied to mobile cassette player and has become an MP3 player over the years is the market leader in Japan.

All this is happening as interest in the iPod is drying up faster than a thirsty man looking for a bar in the Sahara. Sony's share of the Japanese market for portable music players stood at 47.8 percent last month, ahead of Apple which had 44.0 percent, according to the Tokyo-based marketing research company BCN Inc.

Sony has faced stiff competition in recent years from the huge popularity of the iPod and this is the first time that the Walkman outsold the iPod in monthly sales" since the 2001. BCN thinks that it might have been that punters were reluctant  to buy iPods ahead of the launch of a new iPod range in the United States.

But Sony produces cheaper gear that has a much better sound quality than anything Jobs' Mob produces. It is also not locked into Apple's Walled Garden of Delights. Apple's reputation in Japan was damaged after it offered to replace its first-generation iPod Nano music player after they started catching fire.