iTunes exists to sell iPods
Thursday, January 18, 2007
or is it the other way around? Talking to so many device manufacturers about providing content places me in the middle of this debate almost daily. There are a myriad of reasons why I have formed my own opinion (see the title) but I have to admit I don't have any definitive proof.
I do like to point to things like todays report from Apple on their earnings though. $7.1 billion in revenue translating into $1 billion in profit. They had a 28% growth in Mac sales and a 50% growth in iPod sales. But throughout the report the word iTunes is only used once, in the last paragraph:
Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning desktop and notebook computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital music revolution with its iPod portable music players and iTunes online store.The fact that their earnings from the iTunes Music Store isn't even hinted at in their release indicates to me that its not a significant piece of their revenue.
posted by Russell @ 9:34 PM,
2 Comments:
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At 2:13 PM,
Karin Hoegh said...
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You´re right - in both. Thats why I don´t really think podcasts fit very well into the iTunes Store, cause they are free. A lot of people get the impression, that 1. You need an iPod to listen to podcasts, 2. You need to pay tu subscribe to podcasts.
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At 11:01 AM,
Russell said...
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I don't necessarily think they don't belong in the iTunes store. Apple does mark the subscriptions as 'free' but it would certainly help if they would label them 'free podcasts' on the front page.
A lot of people do have the impression that you must have an iPod to listen to podcasts, but I would guess that if they got that idea from iTunes itself they probably have an iPod anyway... the rest just make that assumption because of the word I suspect.
The 'pay to subscribe' misconception is a big one though. From talking with users and device manufacturers though, I think its more the word 'subscribe' than 'podcast'. When I use the word 'subscribe' their minds almost invariably go straigh to a payment model.
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