Ten more years: What the future holds for iTunes Store
Over the course of its ten-year existence, the iTunes Store has evolved even as it has stood stock-still. Starting out as an online store that sold protected digital audio files, it expanded to include sales (and, in some cases, rentals) of movies, TV shows, apps, and books (both audio and electronic). Where it remains unbudged, though, is in its central mission: Sell, sell, and sell some more. Whether the purpose of its selling is to feed the hardware that Apple makes or to turn a profit on the media itself, the iTunes Store differs very little at its heart from the large “music, movies, books ’n’ things” emporiums of old.
The store has been quite successful for Apple—to the point where the company now talks less about it as a way of getting people to purchase the next iPod or iOS device and more as a profit center. Just this week, for example, Apple announced that its total revenue from the store topped $4 billion in its fiscal second quarter, with $2.4 billion of that amount coming from media sales.
As much success as Apple has enjoyed, is the model of the past ten years viable for the next ten? In my view, no. Two factors have altered the landscape: the changing attitudes of today’s media consumers, and the competition that Apple faces.
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