Apple said the sales figure excludes the number of songs downloaded through a promotion with Pepsi, in which 100 million songs are being given away. It has been reported that the specially marked Pepsi bottles that contain iTunes codes have been slow to reach store shelves in some areas. Customers have also found a way to determine which bottles are winners, by tilting the bottles at a particular angle.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the goal of 100 million songs by April -- including those given away in the Pepsi promotion -- when the company expanded the iTunes store in October to work with Windows-based computers. Apple reiterated the goal in December, when it announced that it had sold 25 million songs by that point.
In its announcement on Monday, Apple did note that iTunes users are now downloading 2.5 million songs per week, which means that the company is now selling songs at a rate of 130 million per year.
"With over 50 million songs already downloaded and an additional 2.5 million songs being downloaded every week, it's increasingly difficult to imagine others ever catching up with iTunes," Jobs said in a statement.
In an interview on Monday, Apple vice president Rob Schoeben focused on the fact that Apple continues to hold a substantial lead in the music-download market, despite the increased competition.
"People were predicting we were going to be in a horse race against all these scary competitors," Schoeben said. "This doesn't feel like a horse race. From our perspective, we are the dominant leader in that market."
Apple also noted that the rate of sales is increasing, now at about 2.5 million songs per week, up from a rate of 1.5 million downloads per week in December. The company was selling about 500,000 songs per week in September, when the service was still Mac-only.
As for the goal, Schoeben said it was hard for Apple to know the pace at which the market would develop and that the company has had to learn through experience about how quickly (and how many) songs would be redeemed through a promotion like the one with Pepsi. He declined to say how many songs have been redeemed from the promotion.
Despite being the leader in online music stores, Apple does face increasing competition from existing stores such as Roxio's Napster and MusicMatch, as well as a host of others looking to join the fray, including Microsoft and Virgin.
Meanwhile, Roxio said on Monday that strong demand for Napster was leading the company to raise its sales forecast. The company said it now expects revenue for its Napster division to increase to about $5.5m (£3.04m) for the three months ending 31 March. That compares with $3.6m in the preceding quarter.
In February, Roxio said it had sold 5 million downloads, which is a fraction of Apple's tally.
Schoeben noted that Napster is finding a profitable niche in selling music subscriptions but that it's not grabbing a significant share of the download market.
"Subscriptions are a place they can hide and get a comfortable niche," he said. "Their ability to sell music has not borne out."
Talkback
This article is completely at lack of fairness in its reporting. The first year anniversary isn't until April end.
Second Pepse downloads will be counted in this 100mm goal.
So do your homework before you write an artical criticising iTunes -
Wow! I didn't realize that March 15th was actually April 28th. Unless Ms. Fried is using her time machine again. You silly girl. Stop that.
Oh, I almost forgot. Don't forget that the 100 million song that Pepsi is giving away, are in fact paid for by Pepsi. So... it looks to me like Apple more than hit the mark.
Good luck next time.
Writer for original article is a moron. Not only dosen't he know how to tell what day it is, but he also dosen't know how to listen. If he had bothered to look into his subject before spouting such blatent lies and made up timelines he would have looked back to the iTunes announcement in October when Mr. Jobs said how he was going to get to 100 million.
Please refer to the following link http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/musicevent03/
Looking at or arround the 43 minute mark.
Oops. You accidently forgot to get any facts. The deadline for 100 million songs is April 28th. And Apple has yet to count any of the Pepsi/iTunes promo songs yet. And they're already up to 50 million, so while they may miss their mark due to the long wait it's taking for the pepsi bottles to get to market, their totals will far exceed 50 million when the final votes are counted.
But why bother actually researching this a bit when you can write off the cuff and get paid for it anyway?
you guys suck at reporting...
but you're british-based and your standards for journalism are apparently a LOT different than U.S. standards.
jeezis.
CNET falls short of journalistic integrity
See this URL for details and the other side of the story:
http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P2334_0_1_0
It's only March 15, 2004, how can you report on Apple missing a goal set for the end of April 2004. Shoddy reporting. Yes it's true that without the Pepsi purchased tunes, iTMS is on track to sell around 70 million songs. But Apple's estimates for 100 million, based on Steve Jobs presentation was to include songs redeemed during the Pepsi promotion. This means that only 30-35 million of the arranged 100 million winners would need to redeem songs for Apple to reach its stated goals.
Apple has another 6-1/2 weeks before the April 28th deadline. That will add another 16.25 million songs at the current rate. If the Pepsi promotion brings in another 33.75million songs (a 1/3 of the free 100 million songs) then they will meet their goal.
A bit premature to be predicting not meeting a goal don't you think?
Did anyine at ZDnet bother to actually check Steve Jobs' October speech?
What happened to journalism?
Re-read the press release and update your article. Note the quote below:
"Apple® today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over 50 million songs from Apple’s iTunes® Music Store, not including songs redeemed from the currently-running Pepsi iTunes promotion."
Pure shoddy journalism obviously meant to bolster Napster's reputation while also diminishing Apple's credibility.
This article is loaded with misinformation and is deceptive and unethical. A five minute block of time would show most of what this article claims to be patently false.
How does this article make it to publication? The obvious answer is that it is designed to bit the Apple Community into hitting the site.
I request the article be revised with the real facts or be immediately removed from your site. I will also send a link of this article to Apple Computer for them to examine.
Is this what passes for "balanced" reporting these days? Is balanced about reporting the FACTS, or trying to balance every pro with a con and creating the appearance of balance?
March 15th is not April 28th, and Jobs stated loud and clear that the Pepsi giveaway would be used to count towards the 100 million at the iTunes for Windows unveiling.
The story should have been headlined, "Will Apple make its goal of 100 million?"
Gawd, this is so biased it's revolting. Thanks again for journalistic integrity, CNET!
(No doubt the editors view the criticism as proof that they are correct).
In other news... (we'll likely here from ZDNet UK)
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Get your facts right before you published! The 100 million goal is only including the Pepsi promotion.
STOP PUBLISHING CRAP!!
When will the retraction be posted?
Afterall, erroneous, factually-incorrect articles require such action from reputable publishers, don't they?
Your facts are all wrong as usal when concerning stories on Apple Computer ...
It's apparent to me that there are no EDITORS at ZDNET, OR you're all in the pockets of the Microsoft, Dell, PC based consortium.
Maybe next time you want to venture into the world of APPLE reporting, you may want to actually do your homework and report on FACTS instead of your ficticious bias.
Ina
DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE JUMPING THE GUN YET AGAIN ...OR DID YOU SIMPLY GET YOUR CHECK FROM M$ ON TIME FOR A CHANGE ...AND THROUGH YOU OWED THEM ANOTHER ONE!
This would all be very interesting, if it were true. However, unlike CNET, we (MacDailyNews) are forced to let the facts get in the way. Fact number one is that until April 28, 2004, the one year anniversary of iTunes and the date Steve Jobs' set for the 100 million song goal, Apple has not failed to hit its target. Fact number two, and this is the big one, is that Jobs plans to count the Pepsi redemptions toward the 100 million songs sold - after all they are actually songs sold. The songs redeemed are paid for by Pepsi.
Steve Jobs specifically stated, in explaining how Apple would hit the 100 million songs sold mark, "What are we going to do [to sell 100 million songs in a year]? We're going to give away a hundred million songs. You heard me right. We are so proud to be partnering with Pepsi on this... So, a hundred million songs by April 28, 2004 - this is our goal - we're going to Windows [with an iTunes version], partner with AOL, ...and we're going to give away 100 million songs with Pepsi... So, we think we've got a really good shot at selling 100 million legal downloads the first year." See it for yourself during Jobs' presentation from the Moscone Center in San Francisco during Apple's "iTunes for Windows Introduction" on October 16, 2003 here. Jobs' remarks on this 100 million song goal begin at 43:30 into the presentation.
Clearly, Jobs intends to count the Pepsi redemptions. None of these redemptions is included in today's announcement of over 50 million songs sold. And it is not yet April 28, 2004. Fried is wrong to pretend that Apple has not hit its goal. No one can know until April 28, 2004 and all of the songs sold are counted.
you probably already figured out two of your mistakes in the article....
1.) Jobs goal was not for March 15...
2.) the goal specifically included Pepsi promotions...
but the third one you haven't figured out....
3) with CNET's support of other music stores..... your journalistic integrity will be called into question when you make such easily proven false claims that are biased to your own investments
which calls into question your level of intelligence.... because your brand of Journalism does not survive integrity questions.... so your brand will would not survive.....
jon.
DOH! And I quote from Mac Daily News: "Steve Jobs specifically stated, in explaining how Apple would hit the 100 million songs sold mark, "What are we going to do [to sell 100 million songs in a year]? We're going to give away a hundred million songs. You heard me right. We are so proud to be partnering with Pepsi on this... So, a hundred million songs by April 28, 2004 - this is our goal - we're going to Windows [with an iTunes version], partner with AOL, ...and we're going to give away 100 million songs with Pepsi... So, we think we've got a really good shot at selling 100 million legal downloads the first year." See it for yourself during Jobs' presentation from the Moscone Center in San Francisco during Apple's "iTunes for Windows Introduction" on October 16, 2003 here. Jobs' remarks on this 100 million song goal begin at 43:30 into the presentation."
Totally wrong and incorrect. Steve said the 100 Million goal included the Pepsi songs as they are fully paid downloads. Also the year mark is the end of April. Nice fact finding guys!
Retraction request to the editors is in...
Sent to Matt.Loney@zdnetuk.co.uk (Editor)
Matt.Broersma@zdnetuk.co.uk (Deputy Editor)
Hello,
I'm writing you on behalf of the Apple comunity, and those among us that think Apple is doing a good job. Please take the time to review and edit/retrack the story that Ina Fried has posted. Your reporter has not checked any of her facts concerning her subject matter, and from the many other irrate peoples postings I have read about the story she has several points wrong. Unlike Ina I do not believe I have the power to alter time, as it is not the end of April, which is when the year is up, one can only assume that Ina is wrong about what day it is today. The recent statement from Apple had quoted the number of direct sales was 50 million, not inclusive of the millions already redeemed via the pepsi promotion. Currently Apple is selling on the order of 2.5 million songs every week, which will ad aproximately 16.25 million songs over the remaining 6 and a half weeks till April 24th. According to the person that made the claim of selling 100 million in one year, Steve Jobs, the count "WILL" include the 100 million songs paid for by pepsi for promotional consideration. Your can see and hear these remarks yourself by following the enclosed link, and forwarding to the 43 minute mark of the speach. http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/musicevent03/
Please take the time to post a retraction and apoligetic statement informing the ZDnet community of the numerous errors in the story.
Get your facts straight before posting them on a site with as much power as yours. First of all, the date that the goal is to be reached is 28th of April, and Apple reported that 50 million songs had been sold by last Thursday, 11th of March.
Secondly, the bottles from the Pepsi promotion should also be included in the final numbers, but so far Apple has only reported the number of SOLD songs in the iTunes Music Store and none of the Pepsi songs.
Read the article I link to below for further explanation, and then tell me how Apple has grossly miscalculated their numbers.
http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P2334_0_1_0
Ummm, it isn't April yet. And the date set for the goal was April 28. iTunes still has 44 days with which to meet their goal. Get your facts strait. Classic example of journalism, reporting a story without doing any research!
You guys need to publish a retraction. It is not April 28th. The 100 million total is supposed to include the Pepsi giveaway which this does not. Really sloppy and biased reporting!!!
ACtually, I'm in America, and I think our reporting is pretty much corporate, and innaccurate. So I won't support comments like the British press is somehow incorrect. Actually they've been much more accurate when it comes to the Iraq-war propaganda.
Having said that, I think that C-NET lowers the bar on journalistic integrity. Not just with taking a fact like iTunes outsells all others and is on track to make a goal of 100Million and standing it on its head. Napster is 1/10th the size and all you talk about is their "upward forecast". When you are that far behind, all you have is "upward forecasts". No, I've spotted (when I bothered to look) about 10 stories this year that have been cleverly slanted.
C|net is getting the reputation of being advertiser driven-- or the "Fox News" of the web.
Maybe it is a British thing... check out the BBC story <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3514178.stm>. Same bias - perhaps worse.
Talk about crappy reporting! Do your homework Ina. The iTunes model is important and is obviously doing something right that others have not been able to do. Write about that instead of this negative clap trap and just plain wrong information. Why? I would hate to believe you are just another MS puppet.
Pretty embarrassing.
Uh, for the reporter that is. Sadly, I do not imagine that Ina Fried has the grace or ethics to be properly embarrassed.
The points are made very well in:
http://www.macdailynews.com/comments.php?id=P2334_0_1_0
But I can understand ZDNet's and CNet's point: who needs facts when you can have shock value? Their point was made, and forcefully, too. The minor quibble that the point is wrong and premature... well, that's just details. A very small percent will find the corrections (not published by either ZDNet or CNet of course, which is what a reputable publisher would do), and the rest will shake their head with satisfaction, as yet another proof of Apple's imminent demise.
Last that I remember Apple stated it wanted to sell 100 million by April 28th and that was including the Pepsi promotion. Last that I checked the Pepsi promotion is still in effect and the date is not April 28th. If
The BBC got it wrong and apparently ZDNet doesn't do much verifying of facts...
You should go to work for Bush because he doesn't seem to care about fact eithre you sack of ...
We received a lot of impassioned comment about the first version of this iTunes story and have posted a revised version to address our readers' concerns. Michael Parsons, News Editor, ZDNetUK.
Well done! Thanks for doing the right thing and setting the record straight.
The measure of a true professional is not in the avoidance of errors, but in the swift and honest correction of them.
i'll second the well done.... BBC also corrected their article......
it shows that these messages work sometimes....
and you have to give credit for Cnet/ZDnet to have corrected one of their mistakes in a timely manner.....
jon.