MUMBAI: The ubiquitous iTunes will celebrate its 10th anniversary on 28 April- a decade that saw it enter, innovate, lead and dominate the music market- changing the way we consume music.
When iTunes was launched by the late Steve Jobs in 2003 with the third generation iPod, it was over the ruins of Napster- the online site for free music- which was shut down and under the cloud of global piracy that laid a siege to the music industry.
With a catalogue of just 2, 00,000 titles and initially only available to Mac users iTunes’ parent company, Apple Inc made all its content-songs- available at 99 cents. This model allowed consumers to choose the songs and artists they wanted instead of buying what labels offered them.
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This business model laid a template on how music was sold and transformed music retailing. It not only helped Apple leverage online music space but also transformed it into the biggest retailer in music.
After music, iTunes expanded TV show sale market and movies to books and magazines across 119 countries. iTunes contributed a record $2.4 billion in revenue in first-quarter earnings.
Till date, it has sold 25 billion songs worldwide and 40 billion apps — and has morphed into a hub for many of Apple’s digital products.
December 2012 saw iTunes entering the Indian market where it had a small but vibrant pool of customers for its products.
On offer were over 20 million songs-regional and Bollywood, priced at about Rs 12 available for purchase and download on iTunes Store along with Hollywood and Bollywood films for purchase and rent.
After dominating the market for nearly a decade, iTunes today face challenges from new and innovative companies like Spotify which offer subscription- based streamed music, Internet radio and a host of competitors with similar business models.
Apple also seems to be slowing down on its innovative range of products from the iPhone, iPads, iPods to laptops that complimented sales of iTunes catalogue of tunes.
Apple, on 23 April, announced that it posted a profit of $9.5 billion on revenue of $43.6 billion in the first three months of this year, compared to a profit of $11.6 billion on $39.2 billion in the same quarter in 2012.
Whatever road the international music business takes in the future, Apple Inc is expected to adapt, innovate and perhaps dominate the new landscape with a newer version of iTunes.
