While digital music players existed for some years and the
online music market is beginning to emerge, Apple offers as of 2001, not a
player but a complete solution including an MP3 player, a management and
software download music (iTunes) and an online music store (iTunes Store).
Rather than chasing the pirate music on the net.
Apple believes that people are
willing to pay $ 1.29 (and 0.99 dollar) for that simplifies life. Not to shoot
themselves in the foot, the company agrees for the first time to open the PC
world. Compatible with Windows, the iTunes software to purchase and manage
content from any computer connected to the net.
Success is the rendezvous.
Today, seven years after its
creation, the iTunes Store has become the leading retailer of music in the
world (90% market share in online music) in front of stores Wal-Mart (main
American hypermarket chain) . Over 10 billion songs have been downloaded a
total of 11 million references.
Apple has succeeded in passing from mere
computer manufacturer to the distributor of cultural content (music, videos,
movies). A stroke of genius that allows it to retain 30% of the money spent on
iTunes itself without producing any content. This ecosystem of a new genre will
find many variations thanks to the iPhone that allows you to sell applications
(3 billion downloads in eighteen months), and now the iPad, which is positioned
in the areas of digital books and the press.
