Listen up. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty
Apple has just announced that it has stretched past three billion cumulative downloads: meaning that there is now, roughly, one iTunes download for every two people on the planet.
The most interesting thing about the headline figures, for me anyway, is that the rate of growth is really increasing. From the launch of the service in April 2003, it took nearly three years until the service passed 1 billion downloads in February 2006. Eleven months on from that, in January 2007, the company announced it had passed the 2 billion milestone.
The third billion, though? Just six months.
It's astonishing, but it might reflect a number of things: huge iPod sales, more homogeneous digital sales, more artists available on iTunes or an increased appetite for digital music. Or possibly all of the above.
So how much has three billion tracks made Apple? Well, the Register recently suggested that Apple takes 30c from each 99c download, but after all costs are taken out of the equation I've seen figures of around 4 cents put forward as profit. Given those back of the envelope estimates, that means iTunes has made approximately £60m of profit for the company in its lifetime. For some perspective: Apple made $818m last quarter. So it's not insignificant, but the music business is still totally in thrall to hardware.
With research suggesting that illegal downloading is also growing, what are the next steps for iTunes development?
Perhaps in getting all that music that's not there already? Classical music is not greatly served, and big back-catalogue sellers like Led Zeppelin, Radiohead (and, yes, the Beatles) still keeping away from the service.
