iTunes now the No. 2 music retailer in the US
In addition to new notebooks on Tuesday, Apple announced that the latest market research data from NPD indicates that the iTunes Store recently surpassed Best Buy to become the number two music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart.
The Cupertino-based company also said that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers who've combined to purchase over four billion songs, with an astounding 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone.
"We'd like to thank the over 50 million music lovers who have helped the iTunes Store reach this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We continue to add great new features like iTunes Movie Rentals to give our customers even more reason to love iTunes."
iTunes had held the title of the No. 3 US music retail since last June, when it cruised by online retailer Amazon.com, snagging over 10 percent of the nation's overall music sales.
Apple's rank as a US music retail has been rising steadily ever since November 2005 when it passed Tower Records, Sam Goody and Borders to crack the Top-10 for the first time.
The Cupertino-based company also said that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers who've combined to purchase over four billion songs, with an astounding 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone.
"We'd like to thank the over 50 million music lovers who have helped the iTunes Store reach this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We continue to add great new features like iTunes Movie Rentals to give our customers even more reason to love iTunes."
iTunes had held the title of the No. 3 US music retail since last June, when it cruised by online retailer Amazon.com, snagging over 10 percent of the nation's overall music sales.
Apple's rank as a US music retail has been rising steadily ever since November 2005 when it passed Tower Records, Sam Goody and Borders to crack the Top-10 for the first time.
Comments
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9733430-7.html (Q1 2007)
If Best Buy or Walmart's percentage hasn't move then iTS is very close to overtaking Walmart too, accordign to the graph.
I will be the first to admit that I am a total Apple freak. I drink the kool aid daily. However, the iTMS has been replaced by Amazon MP3 as my default music store. Not because it is "better", but it is a little cheaper and the songs are DRM-free. I'm hoping Apple sees that Amazon has a competative product and improves the iTMS to match. I'd love for Apple to take the #1 spot in the near future.
Amazon also has twice the bitrate for that lowered price. I think the reason they agreed to go with DRM-free audio with Amazon is to usurp iTS successful hold. Unfortunately, it's more than just the value, it's also about the ease of use.
I will be the first to admit that I am a total Apple freak. I drink the kool aid daily. However, the iTMS has been replaced by Amazon MP3 as my default music store. Not because it is "better", but it is a little cheaper and the songs are DRM-free. I'm hoping Apple sees that Amazon has a competative product and improves the iTMS to match. I'd love for Apple to take the #1 spot in the near future.
I'm wondering just how that is actually affecting iTunes sales. not by much apparently.
Don't forget that Apple can't arbitrarily change their pricing. They have contracts, and so does Amazon, which is why Apple doesn't have all the DRM free songs Amazon does.
Got any actual figures? How far ahead is Wal-Mart?
NPD is refusing to break out percentages this time around for whatever reason, but we're still trying to get it out of them. The belief -- given that Best Buy trailed Wal-Mart by only about 2 percentage points last June -- is that Apple (iTunes) is pretty close to becoming No. 1.
Best,
K
Got any actual figures? How far ahead is Wal-Mart?
This is all they are offering us right now:
Ranking below is reflective of the amount of music sold in the U.S., based on a 12-track CD equivalency for music track downloads.
2007
1. Wal-Mart
2. iTunes
3. Best Buy
4. Target
5. Amazon
Q4 2006 (for comparison -- NPD restated their data recently and does not cover full-year 2006):
1. Wal-Mart
2. Best Buy
3. Target
4. iTunes
5. Amazon
Unfortunately, it's more than just the value, it's also about the ease of use.
More accurately:
It's more than just the cost, as the ease of use adds value
More accurately:
It's more than just the cost, as the ease of use adds value
That is better. Thank you.
You know there are idiots out there that don't know the difference......
Was that 4 billion songs in 2008.... or reached 4 billion songs in 2008?
You know there are idiots out there that don't know the difference......
Got to admit, that's one set of negotiations I'd really like a peek at.
I agree about Amazon, and I love the availability of what tracks they have DRM-free. But if the labels started offering others the prime cut, but leaving Apple with the scrapings just to punish them, it's interesting that iTunes sales are still climbing, even with DRM.
Interesting, though: do they control the pricing of Wal-Mart's tracks? Usually, Wal-Mart controls their pricing, no? I mean, they're legendary for squeezing their sellers. I doubt if they do the labels any favors at all. So, uh, why should the number two retailer be any different? Huh?
What really browns me off is the music label's decision to offer non-DRM'd tracks to Amazon, and elsewhere, but not to iTunes, even when Jobs offers them a higher price -- $1.29. Is it just that they're cheesed off, that Jobs forced their hands into dropping DRM? That Jobs kept his price at .99 cents when they wanted variable pricing? Do they want the kind of stunt pricing that record stores have been afflicted by? High price for the latest Britney or whoever, but very low for library? Do they want to restrict the availability of their library to emphasize the hit machine? Or has Jobs just proved right in so many negotiations that they're ticked off and want to punish them? And lastly, isn't there restraint of trade involved here? I mean, if they offer one set of terms to Amazon, and another to Apple, isn't that a cartel? An illegal combination? I mean, the music industry lost a big case, back in the day of CDs and physical stores, when it was revealed that they paid for all the music store ads, and then decided who got what and what price they had to sell it at. Right?
Got to admit, that's one set of negotiations I'd really like a peek at.
I agree about Amazon, and I love the availability of what tracks they have DRM-free. But if the labels started offering others the prime cut, but leaving Apple with the scrapings just to punish them, it's interesting that iTunes sales are still climbing, even with DRM.
Interesting, though: do they control the pricing of Wal-Mart's tracks? Usually, Wal-Mart controls their pricing, no? I mean, they're legendary for squeezing their sellers. I doubt if they do the labels any favors at all. So, uh, why should the number two retailer be any different? Huh?
It does give the appearance of having become personal between some major labels and Apple.
The attempt to stifle the iTunes store seems to be going poorly, despite attacks on
multiple fronts. One wonders how long the shareholders to whom label execs are
responsible will tolerate the loss of potential revenue from iTunes sales, due to
these apparently failing moves.
With regard to Walmart, maybe they belong to the same country club, political movement,
or maybe there are incriminating photos involved.
NPD is refusing to break out percentages this time around for whatever reason, but we're still trying to get it out of them. The belief -- given that Best Buy trailed Wal-Mart by only about 2 percentage points last June -- is that Apple (iTunes) is pretty close to becoming No. 1.
Best,
K
Yeah, plus if this is for 2007 as a whole on average and Apple's trend has been upward, the current flow of sales might be even closer or even with iTunes as number 1 today (and by a wide margin in a couple of years).