The New York Times has reported briefly on some Forrester Research research from Josh Bernoff, saying: Sales of iPods and iTunes Not Much in Sync. The research has been duly rubbished by Wired's Cult of Mac, in Commentary: Tech Analysts Still Don't Get iTunes Store, which begins: "Well-meaning but totally misguided technology analyst Forrester Research brought out a new study today that provides evidence that only 22 songs have been sold on iTunes for every one iPod Apple has sold."
Our almost forgotten friend Andrew Orlowski takes a different tack in iTunes sales 'collapsing', which should have the desired effect (ie get El Reg's hit count up).
In Toronto, The Globe and Mail makes the essential points in Music downloads in downward trend:
Mr. Bernoff questions whether consumers are reaching their saturation level for music downloads. He found that iTunes' rapid expansion rate has slowed. The service grew sevenfold between April, 2004, and January, 2006, but since then the number of transactions has dropped by 58 per cent.
The downward trend is not limited to iTunes, which, according to Apple, accounts for 88 per cent of music purchased off the Web in the United States. Sales of all music downloads in the U.S. have stalled in the second half of the year, falling from 144 million tracks in the first quarter to 137 million in each of the second and third quarters, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks industry figures.
Discuss....
