MPIO or Mpio ( Hangul: 엠피오) was a South Korean consumer electronics brand and company. Established in 1998 by Woo Jung-Ku, it was one of Korea's early manufacturers of

MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...

s and was known for producing portable digital audio players, media players and CD players capable of decoding MP3 data files on CDs. Previously, the company was known as DigitalWay Co., Ltd.

History

The company, originally as DigitalWay, was created as an OEM developer for large corporations - its first client was Samsung and the first product from their contract, a Samsung-branded MP3 player, debuted at the 1999

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

. In 2000, the company launched its own brand, Mpio, which eventually would become the name of the company. By 2002 it held 20% of the worldwide DAP market, including 15% in Europe and North America and 30% in Japan. The vast majority of its sales came from its own Mpio brand rather than through contracts of other firms. Mpio was noticeably better known outside of South Korea itself. In Japan, Mpio players were sold by Adtec Co., Ltd., a fully owned subsidiary of DigitalWay. In 2005, Mpio Japan Co., Ltd. was formed as a successor business. In September 2004 DigitalWay merged with a company called Yes Com Co., Ltd. and registered on the KOSDAQ exchange. MPIO became the name of the new company. Mpio's first jukebox player was the HD-100 in 2004 with a 20 GB hard disk, aiming to capture sales away from the

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

and iriver H300 series. Half of its sales that year were from North America. However, its situation in the market deteriorated in 2005. Unlike iriver which could depend on domestic sales for survival, 90% of Mpio's revenue came from outside South Korea. The company posted a net loss of 21 billion won ($21.7 million) in 2005. In April 2006, founder and CEO Woo Jung-ku sold 8% out of 15% of his personal shares in the company to SW Net, a company specialising in jewellery. Then, Jung-Ku now as an employee, was dismissed from the company and was replaced by SW NET's president Kang Shin-woo. On November 10, 2006, Shin-woo and other members of the company's board of directors were accused in Korean media of

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

, as much as 9.8 billion

won Won may refer to: *The Korean won from 1902–1910 *South Korean won, the currency of the Republic of Korea *North Korean won, the currency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea * Won (Korean surname) * Won (Korean given name) * Won Buddhis ...

. This was followed by resignations and the bankruptcy of one of its subsidiaries. Chung Myung-an held a temporary CEO position until it was filled by Kim Jeong-ho. The company announced its entry in the biodiesel business and entered the development of ozone-free halogen light bulb development. In August 2007, MPIO announced that CEO Jeong-ho embezzled 9 million won, 134% of MPIO's equity capital. In 2008 the company had renamed itself Innoblue Co., no longer in the MP3 business, and it is now involved mainly in pollution reduction equipment.

Products

Product list of MPIO:

MP3 players

;2000 *MP10, Mpio's first player originally as OEM then under its own brand, rectangular shaped *DMU10, rectangular shaped *DMV10, rectangular shaped *EX-MP, square shaped *DMY10, square shaped *DMJ10, square shaped ;2001 *DMG, square shaped playe, 32/64/128 MB memory, with a SmartMedia slot plus built-in microphone for recording and WMA playback support. Also sold as the Odyssey 200 and 300 by licensee e.Digital. *DMB, rectangle shaped player, 32/64/128 MB memory, with a SmartMedia slot for extra 128 MB expansion ;2002 *DMG Plus, update of DMG *DMB Plus, update of DMB with additional FM radio recording and a line-in *DME, smaller variant of DMG/DMB. Also sold as the Odyssey 100 by licensee e.Digital. *DMK, small keychain style player, 64/128 MB ;2003 *FD100, square shaped player that was popular *FL100, rectangular player that was popular *FY100, "sporty" player *HD100, Mpio's first jukebox and hard drive player, 20 GB memory ;2004 *FY200, white coloured player that continued the DMK's design, a successful model. *FY300, primitive designed with USB stick. Also sold under the name Stormblue Xuke MP-500. *FL200, medallion style. Also sold under the name Beadsounds EMP-Z. *FG100 *FL300, update of FL200, medallion style *FY400, update of FY300. *HD300, jukebox, 20/40 GB memory. *HD200, microdrive player, 5 GB. ;2005 *FG200 (One), high-end flash player with colour display *FY600, small budget-oriented player *FY500/FY500SE, small budget-oriented player *FL350, medallion update of FL300 *PD100, player that can also pick up DAB radio and record from it alongside FM *i-Bulldog, budget sub-brand ;2006 *HD400 (SOLID), microdrive player, 8 GB. *FL400 (QUARTZ), medallion player *FY700, budget player *FY800, 1/2/4 GB flash player with SD card slot for expansion *FL500, medallion style player ;2007 *MG100, 9.2 mm thick player *ML100, renamed from FY900 *ML300 *MG300, 2/4/8 GB PMP ;2008 *FY1000, 2/4/8 GB PMP *FY500SE *PD100

MP3 CD players

*CMG *CL100 *CL200

Others

*Playit X3 (HRP250 / HRP160), Home Media Player *HS100 / HS200, USB storage devices *DC100, digital camera (for use with DMG and DMB music players)

References

{{reflist

External links

M-Pio HomepageM-Pio USA Homepage (Digital Way Inc.)M-Pio Europe Homepage (M-Pio Peros GmbH)M-Pio China Homepage (Digital Way Shanghai Co, Ltd)
Portable media players Portable audio player manufacturers Audio equipment manufacturers of South Korea South Korean brands Consumer electronics brands Manufacturing companies established in 1998