Fast Company: Digital Squared: Living in an iTunes World

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Fast Company: Digital Squared: Living in an iTunes World

“The success of Apple Computer’s iTunes venture is a harbinger of something big. In the first two weeks, Apple supplied nearly 2 million songs to be downloaded onto personal computers all over the world, at a cost of 99 cents per song. Assume for a moment that Apple continues to sell 1 million digital tracks per week for the next 12 months. By next year, the company will have collected nearly $52 million in revenue to divvy up between the partners in the enterprise. That is the beginning of a real business.”

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Comments

1

“onto personal computers all over the world”... this is wrong, it is only available in the USA. And the rate of 1mio pr week is wrong too.
Bad article.

Posted by Sparks9 on July 19, 2003 at 10:53 PM (PST)

2

Man, that article is a real crapper.

iTunes is only available to Apple’s personal computers in the USA, approximately 3% of the USA market in personal computers.

$52M annual revenue is nothing to a$6B annual revenue company.

Other companies have, and are, reliably offering digital content, to include music, over the Internet in a customer friendly way.

The difference with the iTunes store is that the major labels are offered. Apple had the clout to pull in the major labels so they can sell music that the masses want to hear. They also had the major cash to pull off a huge marketing campaign.

That is the difference.

If we can assume that Apple can somehow keep a $1M a week revenue stream from Mac users, a Windows version should bring in about $1.6B over a year. That’s pretty doubtful, but a more realistic $1B is a damn good amount.

Apple’s problem is that other companies will enter the fray quite soon, perhaps even before they do for Windows. Microsoft and Amazon are two major players I’d expect to see in this market soon. They have clout. They have marketing.

Posted by GMonkey on July 20, 2003 at 3:52 AM (PST)

3

“Apple’s problem is that other companies will enter the fray quite soon, perhaps even before they do for Windows. Microsoft and Amazon are two major players I’d expect to see in this market soon. They have clout. They have marketing.”

Great points. I expect that Apple will evolve the way it does business, as it relates to digital content delivery. Thus allowing them to play in a game dominated by PC’s. Apple has proven it’s ability to be a savy marketing machine.

It will be interesting to see how their competition reacts (i.e. Microsoft, Amazon.com, etc.).

Posted by Jester on July 20, 2003 at 4:34 AM (PST)

4

No problem for Apple! All this revenue was from mac useres only! Just imagine how much more they’ll make once iTunes for windows is out! Anyone must admit that there are definitely more Windows users than Mac!! So just imagine how many more ppl would be buying from iTunes!

Posted by phester on July 20, 2003 at 1:54 PM (PST)

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