Samsung Electronics, Korea's biggest digital products maker, will branch out into the online music business, according to Choi Ji-Sung, the head of the company's digital media division.

The firm is preparing a service program similar to Apple's iTunes in collaboration with domestic and foreign partners, he said at a press conference last Friday.

Samsung Electronics aims to duplicate its dominance in memory chips to MP3 players by forging a digital media player application like iTunes of Apple Computer. Apple dominates the MP3 player and online music business sectors with iTunes and its iPod MP3 player series.

Choi claimed Samsung MP3 players were better than Apple's but so far lacked the music service. Once Samsung has its own, its players will be a match for the iPods, he added.

"We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service program like iTunes of Apple. Our No. 1 priority is to help customers use our products with ease," the 54-year-old execitove said.

During the press conference, Samsung also unveiled its research and development center for digital products for the first time, a mammoth 36-story building in Suwon, Kyonggi Province.

Source: Xinhua/agencies