In just a few hours, Mr Steven Paul Jobs will be celebrating the sixth birthday of the iTunes Store. Five whole years and 4-billion-plus songs sold, and what has the Apple CEO and his team in Cupertino and beyond to show for it? 70% of the global digital music download market, says Eliot Van Buskirk of Wired.com. Not bad, not bad.
Of course, the most senior apple in the basket at Infinite Loop (by rank, not age, obviously) still has much to do. According to an estimation by the research firm InStat, digital downloads are bound to comprise 40% of all music sold by the time 2012 rolls around. Worldwide. Mucho dinero, no?
It won’t all be coming up roses for Jobs and company in the near term, however. They have yet to resolve their ongoing dispute with the majority of RIAA partners about the iTunes Store’s pricing structure, an area of conflict that, while not absolutely crucial to address with utmost haste, given Apple’s comfortable sales streak in the market, is something that certainly requires serious attention in the weeks and months ahead. The sooner the better.
How might Apple wish to celebrate the iTunes Store’s quite remarkable tenure? Kazoos painted fresh yellow and a showing of all Fab Four together, perhaps? While I wouldn’t put it past them to make such a long-awaited splash, I’d say that the likelihood of such a debut is quite small. For the moment, the complete catalogues of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and so will have to suffice. Which, if I dare say so myself, they very much do. Particularly the latter of the two.
Naturally, consumers of the iTunes Store’s digital provisions will be buying and buying some more when Monday April 28, 2008 comes about, as they regularly do. No real surprises there.