iTunes Store Top Music Retailer in the US

Apple announced that its iTunes Store surpassed Wal-Mart to become the number one music retailer in the US, based on the latest data from the NPD Group. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008. (Ars Technica, LA Times, PR)

Why Steve Jobs wants to sell you a music subscription

Why is Apple suddenly in talks with record labels about bundling an unlimited music plan with new iPods, after resisting such a move for years? Steve Jobs has scoffed at music subscriptions in the past, saying customers want to "own their music." Never take Steve at his word: For years, he shot down the idea of iPods with video or an Apple-branded cell phone — until he made them happen. The same is about to happen for music subscriptions — but not because Jobs has suddenly changed his mind about consumers' tastes. (Valley Mag)

eMusic: Apple's bundled-music device would be anticompetitive

Apple is in for a fierce legal fight should it ever release a device that offers all-you-can-eat music, according to David Pakman, CEO of rival digital music service eMusic. "It smells like classic Sherman Antitrust Act to me," Pakman said. "I only know what I've read but the plan sounds very similar to the tying practices Microsoft used with Windows/Explorer. And Microsoft is still paying the penalties for that one." (News.com)

Apple Bundle Math

When doing the math and trying to decide if $20 or $80 or whatever is a good deal for an Apple-and-music bundle, a few things need to be in the calculations. First is the classification -- download versus tethered download. Big difference in revenue and royalties. The former is an unlikely scenario. The latter is a better guide to how the upfront fees would be disbursed. (Coolfer)

eMusic: Apple's bundled-music device would be anticompetitive

Apple is in for a fierce legal fight should it ever release a device that offers all-you-can-eat music, according to David Pakman, CEO of rival digital music service eMusic. "It smells like classic Sherman Antitrust Act to me," Pakman said. "I only know what I've read but the plan sounds very similar to the tying practices Microsoft used with Windows/Explorer. And Microsoft is still paying the penalties for that one." (News.com)

Why would Steve Jobs rent music on iTunes?

It’s all the talk on tech and music blogs: The report in Wednesday’s Financial Times that Apple is negotiating with the big music companies for a deal that would give customers free access to the entire iTunes music library. In exchange for what? There are several answers to that question in the FT account, and that’s the problem. (Fortune)

Adobe CEO says Flash apps coming to iPhone

Adobe Systems CEO Shantanu Narayen said the company intends to bring its Flash Player to Apple's iPhone. Whether and how Flash applications would run on Apple's iPhone has been an open question since the device's launch. Narayen's comments indicate that Adobe will be able to create a version of Flash Lite for the iPhone by using the iPhone software developers kit (SDK) which was released earlier this month. (News.com, Seeking Alpha)

Labels, Apple Debate 'Total Music'

Apple and major record labels have reportedly stepped up negotiations concerning the idea of bringing the "Total Music" concept to iPod devices. According to sources, Apple in the last month reached out to all four major labels to discuss the prospect in more detail. However sources stress a deal is not imminent. Of the many questions to be answered: How much will Apple pay the labels for access to the music? FT reports Nokia will provide about $80 from each device sold to pay for a year’s worth of music, while Apple is offering $20. However Billboard.biz’s sources dismissed those figures as pure speculation. (Billboard, Coolfer, Silicon Alley Insider)

Samsung, Adidas take on iPod, Nike

Samsung Electronics and Adidas have joined the race against Apple and Nike to offer people a device that plays music and keeps track of workouts. The main differences between the two systems are that the Samsung model is also a mobile phone, while the Apple one is just a music player. One key detail for avid runners is that the Samsung/Adidas system does not tie a user to a specific brand of shoe like the Nike+iPod system does. (Washington Post, Information Week, IB Times)

Report: iPhone Users Consume More Content

M:Metrics has released data that shows iPhone users also listen to music, access social networking sites, watch on-demand video and mobile TV, and access news and other information far more than both other mobile phone owners, including other smartphone users. For instance, 74.1% of all iPhone users report listening to music on their phone, compared to 27.9% of smartphone users and 6.7% of overall mobile users. (Billboard)

Apple mulls unlimited music bundle

Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and iPhone devices. Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to be examining a subscription model. (Financial Times)

How Apple Will Sell 10 Million iPhones

Despite some recent doubts, Apple should meet its goal of selling 10 million phones in 2008. Despite a slowing U.S. economy, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is sticking to his audacious goal of grabbing 1% of the worldwide mobile phone market by the end of 2008. On Jan. 15, Apple said it had sold 4 million iPhones since it went on sale June 29. That amounts to about 19,900 a day. To hit Jobs' goal, Apple will have to pick up the pace, selling 27,322 handsets a day, seven days a week, for all of 2008. (Forbes)

Retailers clash with Pepsi over free music

Pepsi is at odds with some of its biggest US retail customers over a national marketing campaign offering free digital music downloads from online retailer Amazon. The partnership has antagonised rival bricks-and-mortar retailers. In an apparent response to retailers’ concerns, Amazon’s name has been banished from the front of Pepsi bottles carrying the promotion. (Financial Times)

iPhone SDK downloaded by 100,000 developers

Despite some early problems managing the flood of developers seeking access to the iPhone software development kit (SDK), Apple reported 100,000 developers have downloaded the kit as of Sunday 9 March. In the latest update Apple quoted a number of third-party developers to give a pretty clear signal of what types of applications are already in development. (Silicon.com)

Apple Inc. Downplays Beatles 'Speculation'

Apple Inc has dismissed claims in the U.K. press that the Beatles catalog is about to be made available online through the computer giant's iTunes Music Store as "unsubstantiated speculation." Reports on Friday suggested that un-named sources "close to Sir Paul McCartney" had confirmed that the Beatles catalog would be available online though iTunes and other legal services "within months." However, the claim has been met with a string of "no comments" from the Beatles' own label Apple Corps, and EMI. (Billboard)

BBC iPlayer comes to the iPhone

The BBC has launched a version of its iPlayer video on demand service for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. It is the first time the service has been available on portable devices. The iPhone and iPod touch are able to stream shows from the iPlayer website over wi-fi networks. The iPhone cannot stream BBC video over the cell network. A BBC developer said that the corporation was currently working on other versions of the iPlayer for "many more" devices. (BBC News)

Apple Falls Short of Rental-Movie Target

Apple Inc. has fallen substantially short of its target of having 1,000 movies available for rent on its Apple TV set-top box by the end of February, and is blaming studios for the discrepancy. A complete count of the number of movies available on the box was elusive, but appeared to be between 400 and 500. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs told shareholders at the annual meeting Tuesday that he's ''not happy'' with the shortfall, according to the San Jose Mercury News. (AP)

iTunes is now the number two music retailer in the US

Apple announced that iTunes is now the number two music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart, based on the latest data from the NPD Group. Apple also announced that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers. iTunes has sold over four billion songs, with an incredible 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone. (PR)

Review : Upgraded Apple TV is one-stop movie box, but rental terms rankle

The latest software update, which arrived last week, takes Apple TV to a whole new level: It can now download rented movies directly from iTunes, with no need to involve the home computer. Some of the movies are even in high definition, finally providing a picture that's a match for our flat-panel sets. (AP)

Warning bells sound over Apple iPod sales

Apple's shares fell more than 17 per cent in regular trading yesterday before recovering slightly to trade 10.65 per cent lower by market close, as analysts expressed concern over weaker iPod shipments than had been hoped for. Apple said on Tuesday that it had shipped just over 22.1m of its signature portable music players during the three months ended December, up just 5 per cent over the same period last year. Yesterday's fall wiped more than $16bn off Apple's market capitalisation. (Financial Times, Forbes)