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iTunes Sales Are Surging: iTunes Revenue Grows a Robust 84%

marketwatch.com — revenue from Apple Computer's iTunes digital media download service rose by 84 percent during the first three quarters of 2006 versus the same period one year ago as a result of a 67 percent increase in the number of iTunes buying transactions and a 10 percent increase in the dollars spent per transaction

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  • DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -7/+28"As Mark Twain might have said, the rumors of iTunes' death have been greatly exaggerated," said Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks. "In contrast to a recent research report indicating that iTunes sales have declined by 65 percent, comScore data show that iTunes sales actually grew 84 percent during the first three quarters of 2006 versus year ago."

    I predict Gian will be labeled an Apple fanboy by flag.
    • gxcdesign, on 10/12/2007, -16/+14Apple is a sleeping giant...

      In two years alone their marketshare will increase and increase to numbers no one will ever had thought they would
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Fanboydom takes on a whole different meaning when youre the chairman of an investment firm. You're a fanboy of whoever you think is going to win, not who you want to win. Otherwise, you go bankrupt.

      Not saying I agree or disagree with his claims. Just pointing out that the hidden agendas here are a bit more complicated than the average digg flame-war.
    • 23r17i05o42n, on 10/12/2007, -20/+11Suck it long and suck it hard, Apple haters.
    • flag564, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6If you didnt believe the other report because it made you feel bad, then why should anyone buy this one?
    • flag564, on 10/12/2007, -16/+4"I predict Gian will be labeled an Apple fanboy by flag."

      You labeled the company that reported totally opposite numbers as Apple bashers.

      So what's your point?
    • zebov, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6Wait a minute, 23r17i05o42n... your comment doesn't say that the wiimotes don't work... digging you down.
    • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3CE industry back in the day locked you to the hardware from turntables to CDs, you needed the required hardware to use the content. Steve and his company has done the same thing. At this point how is anybody going to catch him? 100 million iPods and growing. iTunes software via the web is like a network TV and Movie hub back to, iPods, phones, TVs etc. It's like Napster but legal. Add to this mix a great little computer company selling great laptops and desktops running any OS. The stock will probaly double in price, products will continue to always feel next gen and with the power of google and Disney alongside..
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14I have about 60GB of unprotected AAC files. I can, and have copied my entire library anywhere I want, and play any song using any software that supports the MP4 standard. How, exactly, am I locked in to anything?

      Apple has simply made it easy for me to convert 20 pounds worth of cds into a few grams worth of digital storage space that I can take anywhere and duplicate as often as I like.
    • ghm101, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9@rhesuspieces00
      This story is about iTunes Music Store
      not riping CDs
    • solarwinds, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2@cbiz

      I disagree with your analogy that turntables and CD Players locking you into a certain hardware is similar to the iPod and iTunes.

      At the very least, there were many different manufacturers of turntables and CD players. iPod is only owned by own company, Apple, which you could say is like a monopoly on the protected AAC format they sell at iTunes. I think that's why various European countries like France are so pissed off at Apple for not allowing iTunes bought music to be played on non-iPod devices.

      The future of online music stores will be DRM-free (hence, it can work on any device) so Apple's monopoly on the protected AAC market will not last that long.
    • Quix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"Apple's monopoly on the protected AAC market will not last that long" - solarwinds

      The problem with this "Apple is now the big, bad monopolist and Microsoft is our warm, fuzzy friend" argument I keep hearing is Apple does not own AAC, nor protected music files in general. Is it Apple's fault that other manufacturers choose to hop in bed with Microsoft (PlaysForSure) rather than come up with their own DRM format and dream up a truly competitive alternative? One USED to be able to argue that PlaysForSure was good for consumers as it gave them some choice in hardware. Then Microsoft decided "choice" wasn't REALLY what they believed in after all (despite years of telling us it was), and unleashed Zune (yawn) on the world.

      It's funny that no one ever screams about Microsoft's absolute control of all non-Apple DRM formats, particularly now that MS has stabbed its partners in the back with Zune.

      Some people are simply uncomfortable with any one company controlling a market. Unless it's Microsoft, of course. In which case it's just fine. :|
    • Ireland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The fact that Flag always responds makes him look bad, the fact that his responses never make sense, makes him look even worse.

      What's really weird about his behavior, is the fact that he/an Apple hater relentlessly follows all Apple stories around digg to abuse people. If I felt that strongly against a company I'd have no choice but to avoid all related stories. Otherwise 99% my time on digg would be spent on stories I didn't like, and most sane people couldn't live that way, everyday. Every company has haters, but his logic seems irrational at best.

      Flag, replace this addiction with something else, and try to do something positive with your life. Give us all a break from the repetitious torment you bring to this site and our lives.
    • Kugo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Choose one or choose the other. Forrester Research say they can conclude otherwise. They also show how they arrive at those conclusions. Who are these people now? And isn't it just a bit coincidental that both companies come with survey results at almost the same time?

      Quack quack.
  • GamerSDG, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1^^ Let me be first Gian Fulgoni is the biggest fagboy of them all
  • ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5"There's lies, damn lies, and statistics" - often attributed to Mark Twain

    People can take the same data and somehow twist it one way and then another... sad thing is... they get paid to do it... and you know why they get paid? Because people read and believe their *****... then they link others.

    Now I don't know the the liar is in this case, but something is rotten int he state of Cupertino.
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9You mean city of Cupertino?

      Not that it matters. The figures aren't coming from Apple. Apple doesn't give detailed breakdown on iTMS sales, even during earnings reports, so investors have to find other ways of estimating how things are going, like surveying credit card transactions and what not. Apple made an exception in this case, to reassure shareholders, but they generally keep their mouths shut in regards to the opinions expressed by analysts. The article linked above is just another investor chiming in, and should be taken with a hefty dose of salt. Macworld isn't that far away, we'll know how the iTMS is actually doing soon enough.
    • boberto, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5That's comforting. Analysts can't get their hands on Apple sales statistics, but they can easily browse our credit card transactions!

      Shouldn't these roles be reversed? One is a bit more private than the other.
    • sinurgy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Well regardless, if this article is true that is pretty freakin sad. iTunes is nothing short of retarded and the only way I can reconcile people buying from it is simply because they don't know any better! Which again is pretty freakin sad!
    • seanmac, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@rhesuspieces00

      Thoughtful comment but I dugg you down for not recognizing the Hamlet reference.
  • wozley, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11What's with all the iTunes sales news? Seems real back and forth.

    Know-it-alls: iTunes sales dropping! Oh my!
    iTunes: Nuh-uh!!
    Know-it-alls: Yuh-huh!

    . . . and back and forth.
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5well, if you watch Apple's stock, you'll see there is quite a correlation between the price and the word on the street. One guy does some research and thinks performance is way down, and everyone is up in arms. People that have a lot of money invested want to know what the hell is going on, so all the analysts are out making their voice heard.
    • wozley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Makes sense, but jeez. The way they're doing it is nuts!
  • pcdel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3How is the Zune Marketplace doing?
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8well, when i checked a couple hours ago, i saw the black Zune at #56 on Amazon's top 100 electronics list, and no other zunes in sight. Does that answer your question?
    • pjleonhardt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2there's a black zune? I've only seen the nasty brown one advertised and in stores.
    • wild, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1"Does that answer your question?"

      Only if your Rachael Leigh Cook.
    • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Go to a "Social" and find out.
  • ZetaVu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"comScore's analysis is based on the online behavior of 1 million U.S. consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior. The iTunes sales data is part of a total of 8.5 million buying transactions observed by comScore during the stated timeframe."

    That is the basis for 85% growth Jan-Sep 2006 vs same period 2005

    "Forrester looked at 2,791 credit card and debit purchases on iTunes in the U.S. between April 2004 and June 2006. The researcher found that in the period between April 2004 and January 2006, revenue increased sevenfold. Music transactions over the period increased from 2 to 17 per 1,000 households. The dollar amount of those transactions also increased, from $3.55 to $6.69.

    However, the analyst noted, since January monthly iTunes transactions have declined 58 percent while the transaction size dipped 17 percent, yielding the 65 percent revenue decline. "

    Smaller sample size but representative of purchases, and this was a measurement of transactions per card, not total number of transactions. Does not adjust for number of people going, just what they buy and how often.

    Also, this compares month over month and includes oct-dec 2005, and states that since feb 2006, transactions decreased below jan and earlier. Both surveys could be based on the exact same numbers and both be factually correct, since they are measuring two different things. Sales in oct 05-jan 06 could have outperformed jan-sep 05, jan-sep06 could have outperformend jan-sep 05, but feb thru sep 06 could have decline from jan06 and earlier.

    Both results can be considered to be biased to send the message that best serves the sender, in this case, investment banks who may have positions in Apple and benefit from appearing to know what they are talking about.

    The last thing Apple wants to do is disclose how profitable or unprofitable itunes really is, the second to last thing they want to do is have anyone badmouth them. If I didn't know better, I'd assume we were talking about m$.
    • flag564, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5But the mission is to prop Apple up NO MATTER WHAT!
      Even if that act like the "evil M$".

      It's the cult at work.
  • sdo1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7"There's a sucker born every minute"

    Sales may be surging, but that means there's a lot of people out there who are spending money building a music library that's locked into a specific company and a specific device and that has really crappy sound quality. DRM is bad. 128 kbps is bad. Being tied to a single company for your music is bad.

    It's about time people start paying attention to what they're doing. Get the music you want with absolutely no restrictions on what you can do with it in the future. Buy the CD and rip it. Or buy from eMusic or other such places. Then you can do what YOU want to do with it, not what Apple or the RIAA says you can do with it.

    Or people can continue to be suckered into giving their money to a system that designed to lock you in. Have fun folks... and don't forget... I told ya so...
    • ghm101, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8Oh but I love I Tunes!!

      I love the DRM it puts on my songs, it makes them sound better.

      I love having to give Apple a blow job while the RIAA takes me from behind.

    • cbiz, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6I sure like Apples mp3 hardware but that is as far is it goes for me. iTunes although being embraced by a mass audience is really craptastic software not ready for prime time. Just look at how slowly it moves files to your iPod - Give me a break Apple iTunes is just not that good....and thank god for 3rd party apps. that allow me to use your hardware.
    • dustyshadow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1hondas are overpriced? are you serious?
  • capwid, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0I still think the thing that is missing is the album art. iTunes needs to figure out a way to let people print their own booklets and all. Then I think the album could really be dead.

    You should help iTunes revenue grow even faster by buying a some songs off the new "Loving Automation" record.
    • ArnoldTPants, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Album could be dead??!! That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, but I expect nothing less from someone that buys lossy DRM music that locks them to one player. In 5 years everyone will be regretting that they didn't buy the actual album so they could switch mp3 players, change to a lossless audio format, or have backup copies of their music to do whatever they want with.
  • whisperedlie, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3ah, and yet Microsoft/Zune is condemned as the ultimate evil for DRM.
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6The article has nothing to do with Microsoft, the Zune, or DRM.
    • whisperedlie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Sure does, shall I explain it to you?

      Let's see, Microsoft and Apple are direct competitors in purchasable online multimedia content, as well as the devices to play them on. Users of either bias are notoriously and deeply entrenched against the other. Articles reviewing the Zune are quick to mention how awful and restrictive the DRM implementation is. In reality, iTunes/iPod and Zune don't differ a whole lot when you boil it down (I personally own both): both play unprotected content, and both play (and are "heavily encouraged" to play) protected content.

      The irony is that Microsoft is quickly and most ferociously flamed over something that Apple is just as interested in, and (as this article suggests) is apparently more successful and profitable at. This article directly supports this observation, which is why I posted the comment. I would say that well enough on topic.
  • tylerdurdenclub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1s/Twain/Cuban/ig;
  • dchoi22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Some one please tell me why a few days ago there was news that iTunes' sales were doing horribly, and now we have this story about 84% growth in sales revenue?
    Ridiculous...
    • flag564, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5A little bit of astroturfing by the fankids to cover up bad news.

      They are not above lying to keep Apple afloat.
    • MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Just as flag is not above lying for another opportunity to bash Apple. Such an angry sad little boy.
  • toughice, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4iTunes may not be for everybody, and that's fine - but it does offer an easy and efficient way to purchase music that I want to hear. The quality is pretty good - I am not audiophile, but I have never listened to a song in my car or on my iPod and been upset with the quality.

    The DRM isn't that big of a deal, because I can listen to my music at work, at home, on my iPod, and the car - that's all I need to do with it. Open is better, I can buy into that - but given the state of the music / movie industry - it ain't gonna happen.

    I have probably purchased about 120-130 songs over the past year from iTunes. My friends, family, and co-workers are almost all buying songs from iTunes. So from my perspective the store should be doing pretty good.

    As for the Zune - the problem with the Zune is that it isn't an iPod, and yet it is built in the image of an iPod. To be a successful competitor to the iPod, you have to do something completely out of the box.
    • chrisgeleven, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5iTunes is the greatest thing that has happened to one-hit wonders.

      The only songs I purchase from iTunes are one-hit wonders. It is far better then buying the CD and just listening to 1 song on it.

      I have never had an issue with Apple's DRM. I have my music on three computers (two home and one work), plus two iPod's. If I ever wanted, I can burn copies on music CD's (and who would burn 10 copies of the same playlist over and over again?) and I can make unlimited backup copies on data cd/dvds's.

      Apple even lets you deauthorize all computers at once if needed. And I have asked them in the past to redownload all my music I have purchased and they let me (for free).

      I can't imagine how a reasonable person can hit the DRM restrictions. It is as unrestrictive as DRM gets and is very user friendly.
  • bdbr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Its really too bad that iTunes sales are good. Some keep saying that DRM's time is limited, but as long as iTunes sales are good, that will never happen. Its really the only serious player in DRM sales.

    So as long as you guys follow the "I never had an issue with Apple's DRM" line, we will all have to continue with stupid processes like "burn & rip" just to get access to the music we payed for. Keep in mind, you've already agreed that they have the right to change their usage rules without your consent (its in their ToS). Its better in the long run to avoid anyone who tries to sell you music without fair use rights, even if its from your beloved Apple Inc.

    BTW, all you people that keep talking about the openness of AAC - its not AAC that's the problem, its Apple's proprietary DRM (it's some serious market-speak on their part to call it "Fairplay", when its purpose is to restrict fair use).
  • ArnoldTPants, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1CLIFFosakaJAPAN: King of the fanboys.
  • orcutt989, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This doesnt make any sense. There was just an article a few days ago posted on here about how iTunes sales are down 60% since January, and have been declining since. Now sales are suddenly up 84%? Something isnt right... Who is writing these articles?
    • rhesuspieces00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This article is essentially a response to that article, saying that the analysts that released the other report are way off base.
    • DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"There was just an article a few days ago posted on here about how iTunes sales are down 60% since January, and have been declining since."

      This "article" you're talking about was debunked since by the company that provided the survey this "article" was based on.

      Forrester research published a report based on a survey they've done, The Register UK misinterpreted the report and the media repeated their twisted versions of the facts, saying that iTunes sales were collapsing, even though the original report never stated that.

      Just read that to find the truth about the misleading "article" that was posted on digg.

      http://blogs.forrester.com/devicesmedia/2006/12/itunes_sales_ar.html
  • firemillen2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2lmfao. hedge funds and investment firms come out with spin control. why do iFanboys always have to use hype and rumors? Can't they stick to facts?
    • MacParrot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@firemillen
      "Can't they stick to facts?"

      That's the funniest thing I've heard you say in your multiple trollish Apple posts yet firemillen...oh wait you were serious?

      That's even funnier
  • rheaume, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Sweet! Tons of money for Apple and the labels and ***** all for the artist! I love business!
  • DucksofAnaheim, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Here is another reason the iphone woll be an overpriced flop...
    http://www.mobilport.hu/?r=8266
  • DucksofAnaheim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://reviews.cnet.com/Helio_Drift_black/4505-6454_7-32144149.html?tag=prod.txt.2
    And another reason the iphone will flop ;)
  • ebola, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Who the heck in their right mind buys DRM infested AAC audio which won't work on any other player? Oh, the millions of poor souls who've made Apple richer by a few billion dollars. Bleh. Gimme un-DRM'd audio any day.
  • pawas01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Itunes, it seems more people are buying Ipods. lol

    http://www.columbiashoes.us
  •  

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