New York: Apple issued a press release yesterday confirming market research findings that said its iTunes unit had become the largest retailer of music in the US surpassing supermarket giant Walmart.
Music sold on iTunes at 0.99cents/song added up to make the Apple unit a leader in the music retailing business. As it was competing with a physical store, Apple clarified that it equated twelve downloads with the sale of one CD album.
Over the past few months, it has been charting new growth highs, rising, from number four status to number three, eventually staking claim to a market share of 19 percent at number one position. Walmart's last recorded market share stood at 16 percent. The latest status is based on comparative sales figures of January and February 2008.
The maker of Macintosh computers quoted the findings by researcher NPD group and said it was “thrilled and would like to thank” its 50 million-plus customer for helping it reach this milestone.
The company is also aware of growing competition from other online music businesses. Not only is the number of online competitors growing, rivals like MySpace are using aggressive tactics to claim a larger share of this huge pie. A collaborative venture between MySpace and music giants Sony BMG, Universal and Warner has resulted in an online music store rivaling iTunes. It offers users the more attractive option of listening to tracks or watching videos free. They pay only if they download. The strategy is aimed at luring away music buyers from other sites including iTunes.
Similar or more clever moves by established players like Napster and eMusic could make iTunes current success short-lived.
Apple set new trends in the digital media market first with its iPod and later with the iPhone. iTunes users can download songs directly to their iPods , iPhones, PCs or Apple TVs. The site offers a library of over 6 million songs.
