iTunes sales drop-off

Apple is denying claims that sales at its iTunes store are "plummeting". The company called a recently published report by Forester "simply incorrect," after the company said that US sales fell 65 percent in the first half of 2006, according to the BBC. Apple, however, declined to provide any concrete iTunes sales figures. The report analyzed nearly 3,000 US iTunes debit/credit card purchases and found that the number of monthly transactions had declined 58 percent, while the average size per purchase had fallen 17 percent. Apple's iTunes is the world's most popular legal online music download store and has sold more than 1.5 billion songs and tens of millions of TV shows and movies. "Only Apple knows just how much profit there is at the end of the day on a $1.98 [£1] credit card transaction for two songs, but with transaction costs, hosting costs, and the wholesale price of the songs, there's not much margin left," said Forrester. In the its most recent quarter, Apple reported "above-break-even-profits" from iTunes music/video business.

by MacNN Staff