When Apple launched iTunes, it was the first true hub of digital music from notable artists and music houses. Today, iTunes is the most popular destination of online users when purchasing music. Today, the company owns some 75% of the digital market share.
iTunes may not have been such a huge success had iPhone and iPad not succeeded. With the wild success of its smartphone as well as tablet line-up, Apple was able to add hundreds of millions of users to its iTunes service.
And while many of these users may not essentially buy anything from iTunes, there are millions who do. As a result, iTunes has become the most successful entertainment hub as well as the top digital music market online.
According to an analyst with Asymco, Horace Dediu, iTunes currently for a whopping $6.9 billion sales of digital music, out of a market that has a total volume of $9.3 billion. In other words, Apple is the undisputed champion in this arena. To date, the company has sold a whopping 380 million movies and nearly 1 billion TV shows.
However, Dediu’s analysis takes note that digital music sales are increasingly about the apps, rather than music services. Users are beginning to prefer making in-app music purchases and a major portion of the recent growth in the digital music industry has been in the area of apps. Apple is apparently ready for the challenge, having already geared up its iOS Music app with a iTunes Radio of its own.
Courtesy: 9to5mac
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