Apple's iTunes hits 5 billion mark
That's how many songs have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store. Oh, and movie sales and rentals are doing fine, too, the Mac maker says.
- 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
The path to world domination is paved in round numbers, especially big ones like this: 5 billion.
That's the number of songs that have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store, Apple said Thursday. (Actually, for the record, the press release says "over 5 billion.")
That shouldn't be surprising, of course. Apple's iTunes store has long overshadowed the rest of the music download scene. Rivals have launched many an assault, but even e-commerce competitors as savvy as Amazon.com still face quite an uphill battle--sales of songs at 9-month-old AmazonMP3, the No. 2 digital music store, are only a tenth the volume of those at iTunes, according to market researcher NPD Group.
Apple is, in fact, the largest music retailer in the United States, period, having pushed past Wal-mart Stores earlier this year. And it seems to be making a healthy profit from its iTunes operations. No wonder many a politician is toying with the notion of taxing digital downloads.
The company also said on Tuesday that iTunes customers are toting up purchases and rentals of more than 50,000 movies per day.