According to a report published by The Register, digital music stores including Apple's iTunes Store may be seeing a sharp decline in sales this year.
The report is based off of an analysis of credit card transactions over a 27 month period. While the beginning of the period showed steady growth, months since January 2006 have apparently shown revenue decline as much as 65% (with the average transaction size falling 17%).
And it isn't just Apple's problem. Nielsen Soundscan has grimmer news for prospective digital download services, indicating three consecutive quarters of flat or declining revenues for the sector as a whole.
Speaking to The Register, Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff warned against extrapolating too much from the figures. It may reflect a seasonal bounce that hasn't yet manifested itself. However, it might not.
The report is surprising in that Apple has routinely given the impression that the iTunes store has been doing well. During Apple's 3rd Q 2006 conference call, Apple estimated that it had 85% of the legal download market. This year also saw the addition of full-length movies from Disney to iTunes, of which 125,000 were sold in the first week (generating $1 million in revenue for Disney during that time period).
Update: Forrester Research has issued a rebuttal to media reports on its research, saying The Register and other members of the press had not adequately weighed their research as a whole. In its rebuttal, Forrester claims that iTunes sales merely appear to be leveling off, and the decline felt earlier this year was most likely seasonal.
Thursday December 8, 2022 2:45 am PST by Sami Fathi
Apple yesterday announced that end-to-end encryption is coming to even more sensitive types of iCloud data, including device backups, messages, photos, and more, meeting the longstanding demand of both users and privacy groups who have rallied for the company to take the significant step forward in user privacy.
iCloud end-to-end encryption, or what Apple calls "Advanced Data Protection,"...
Thursday December 8, 2022 7:05 am PST by Joe Rossignol
iOS 16.2 is expected to be released next week following nearly two months of beta testing. With last-minute additions like Apple Music Sing and Advanced Data Protection, the software update now has over a dozen new features for the iPhone.
Below, we've recapped many of the new features coming with iOS 16.2, including Apple's new whiteboard app Freeform, two new Lock Screen widgets, the...
Monday December 5, 2022 11:44 am PST by Juli Clover
Due to production issues at Apple supplier factories in China, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are backordered and basically out of stock at every store. If you were planning to gift or receive an iPhone 14 Pro model for the holidays and didn't already get one, you're basically out of luck because they're gone until late December.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Wednesday December 7, 2022 12:24 pm PST by Juli Clover
With the iOS 16.2 release candidate that came out today, Apple added the new Apple Music Sing feature that was announced earlier this week. We thought we'd check out the new karaoke feature to see how it works.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple Music Sing is available on modern iPhones and iPads, as well as the newest Apple TV 4K. It's built in to the Apple...
Thursday December 1, 2022 8:44 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to publicly release iOS 16.2 for the iPhone in mid-December, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The update remains in beta testing for now, with at least eight new features and changes already uncovered so far.
iOS 16.2 introduces a number of new features, including Apple's new whiteboard app Freeform, two new Lock Screen widgets for Sleep and Medications, the ability to hide...
Anker this week has introduced a new sale across its most popular accessories on Amazon, including savings on USB-C cables, wall chargers, portable batteries, wireless chargers, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Many of these sales...
Wednesday December 7, 2022 10:00 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today announced it is expanding end-to-end encryption to many additional iCloud data categories on an opt-in basis for enhanced security.
iCloud already protects 14 data categories using end-to-end encryption by default, including the Messages app when backups are disabled, passwords stored in iCloud Keychain, Health data, Apple Maps search history, Apple Card transactions, and more,...
Wednesday December 7, 2022 6:47 pm PST by Juli Clover
Twitter plans to charge $11 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription on the iPhone in order to account for the 30 percent cut that Apple takes from in-app purchases, reports The Information. On the web, Twitter Blue will be priced at $7 per month.
Prior to when Twitter Blue was paused, Twitter was charging $7.99 for a subscription, but the pricing will change before it relaunches. According ...
Tuesday December 6, 2022 2:31 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is aiming to launch an Apple-branded consumer-oriented vehicle by 2026, and its goal is to hit a price point under $100,000 to make the car appeal to a wider range of customers, reports Bloomberg.
Apple initially planned to design a car that might look similar to Canoo's Lifestyle Vehicle, where passengers could face one another in a limousine-style car with no steering wheel or...
