Jobs: 1.5bn downloads on iTunes
Although this figure came out weeks ago during Apple’s Showtime event, I’d like to mention this, because it reinforces the prediction made in the iTunes sales statistics page, that 2 billion downloads will be reached by February 2007. As you can see from the graph on that page, the 1.5bn mark was predicted for the first half of September, which coincided with this announcement.
I’m very interested in seeing what kind of traffic iTunes movies will have; I am very enthused by the news that Wal*Mart might potentially work together with the iTunes store. Wal*Mart is the largest sole retailer of DVDs, but as I am sure, they realize the business of physical distribution of data has an expiration date.
At this point, the iTunes Store - a rename of the original iTunes Music Store - has huge potential. I am convinced the non-Disney studios have no choice but to eventually join, and I am happy Apple did not water down their terms of service (to the best of my knowledge) to appease them. iTunes presents a money-on-the-table opportunity for them, and they’d be crazy to not jump the wagon. I thus expect them to resist until the first quarter of 2007, right after the shopping season, where most DVDs are bought, largely as gifts. As this is not the market iTunes would serve well for now, their interest in joining iTunes is displaced by the potential alienation of their largest distributors, who would do a better job of serving the holiday season anyway.