--- 
layout: post
title: iTunes is successful...or maybe not
created: 1054125300
categories: 
- Mac
---
There have been some interesting deconstructions of Apple's iTunes Music Store business. There has also been a 25% increase in Apple's share price.

<a href="http://www.zerendipity.com/profile.aspx?id=112">Greg</a> sent me a story from Business 2.0 entitled <a href="http://www.business2.com/articles/web/0,1653,49692,00.html">Giving iTunes a Careful Listen</a>:<blockquote>One million downloads per week sounds nice, but a closer look at the numbers shows that the service isn't the boffo success it's made out to be. And it doesn't justify the 25 percent run-up it's created for Apple stock.</blockquote>I think that Greg doesn't like iTunes because the sound quality is "inferior". Here's the principle of "good enough" at work again -- to people with regular ears, the music sounds great.

Then, <a href="http://www.docuverse.com/blog/donpark/2003/05/28.html#a534">Don Park</a> links an article called <a href="http://www.glenbrook.com/opinions/apple-itunes.html">Micropayments Redux at the iTunes Music Store</a>:<blockquote>Has Apple broken the code on micropayments? Yes and no. The success of the Store demonstrates that there is a broad market for premium content?sold ala Carte, immediately accessible, and fairly priced. In this sense, the Apple iTunes Music Store is the best micropayments proof point to date. Its success should encourage others to pursue similar models or to provide a cross-merchant micropayments infrastructure.</blockquote>Don himself says of iTunes "it's not just a hit, but a homerun of the decade".