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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/01/31/itunes.passes.realplayer/

iTunes surpasses RealPlayer, more unique users

updated 03:00 pm EST, Thu January 31, 2008

 

iTunes passes RealPlayer


Apple's iTunes software surpassed RealPlayer in unique users for the first time in April of 2007, according to WebSiteOptimization.com, and was the only contender among the four major streaming media players to show a positive growth rate over the past year. iTunes grew 26.8 percent from December 2006 to December 2007, while QuickTime and RealPlayer usage fell 8.6 percent and 17.5 percent, respectfully. Windows Media Player, meanwhile, remained essentially flat over the past year.

Apple recently reported its best quarter in history after unveiling iTunes movie rentals at Macworld Expo in San Francisco. The company confirmed deals with every major studio -- including Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., Paramount, and Touchstone.

All studios agreed to offer their movies to iTunes customers on a rent-to-watch basis, with old and new standard-definition releases priced at $2.99 and $3.99, respectfully. HD-quality versions are also available for $1 more, and new releases will arrive 30 days after their retail DVD shipment.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

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    01/31, 03:37pm | report spam | Reply |

    pointless

    So, what do the numbers mean? It's just a chart, nothing more. And how would these people know, anyway?

    The fact that they claim they "just" passed realplayer, then mentioning it happened 9 months ago, doesn't help things.

    And I notice Apple's charging two different prices for their rental strategies (four, if you count the HD side of things). I thought Apple was against the whole "variable pricing" concept as being too confusing. Not that I know why any of that info was placed in the article (except, perhaps, to pad it out).

  1. tomodachi

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Apr 2002

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    01/31, 03:45pm | report spam | Reply |

    classic testudo

    Numbers and charts mean nothing . . . if they're pro-Apple in any way.

    In the mean time, anybody contesting numbers and charts that are anti-Apple, is a fanboy.

    The figures don't surprise me at all, what with the largely uncontested popularity of the iPod; I'm actually surprised that iTunes *hadn't* surpassed RealPlayer till that recently (seriously, who uses RealPlayer these days? Besides testudo, of course).



    >> I thought Apple was against the whole "variable pricing" concept as being too confusing.

    Apple is; the studios aren't. I mean, you practically live in these boards; you probably read every single article and submit your mostly worthless comments on a half of them, and you still can't figure something as simple as that out?

    You need to get out, bro.

  1. ooshnoo

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2005

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    01/31, 03:45pm | report spam | Reply |

    Real Player?

    What the h*** is RealPlayer? I don't remember the last time I saw a website with a streaming RP files.

  1. climacs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Sep 2001

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    01/31, 03:47pm | report spam | Reply |

    re: pointless

    take a look in the mirror

  1. testudo

    Forum Regular

    Joined: Aug 2001

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    01/31, 04:07pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: classic testudo

    Numbers and charts mean nothing . . . if they're pro-Apple in any way.

    In the mean time, anybody contesting numbers and charts that are anti-Apple, is a fanboy.

    OK, you tell me Mr Genius, what does the number 35,664 stand for. Or the Realplayer number of 27,565.

    Please pass on your wisdom, for, as I said, it's just a chart with various numbers in it, with no explanation of the numbers.

    And you didn't even come close to explaining who did this study and where they get their numbers from.

    The figures don't surprise me at all, what with the largely uncontested popularity of the iPod; I'm actually surprised that iTunes *hadn't* surpassed RealPlayer till that recently (seriously, who uses RealPlayer these days? Besides testudo, of course).

    Which is one reason to doubt the numbers (besides the fact they are meaningless). Who the h*** still uses RealPlayer, and how could it have taken this long for the iTMS to pass it by?

    This gets into, then, where do they get their numbers or what segment of the market they're covering, which, I'll say again, no one knows.

    Apple is; the studios aren't.

    And yet Apple has no problem offering rentals at variable pricing, or even videos at variable pricing, or albums at variable pricing, or even singles at variable pricing (when iTunes Plus cost $1.29 - so some songs cost more then others).

    But when the labels say they want variable pricing, it's all too confusing for the customers and Apple's trying to keep things simple.

  1. McDave

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2006

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    01/31, 07:46pm | report spam | Reply |

    It doesn't take much...

    ...but I'm confused. QT underpins iTunes, you can't have one without the other. iTunes doesn't browse the web just iTS. What are we comparing and where's Flash? Actually why can't providers just stream H.264 and let us decide the media system we want?

    McD

  1. Guest

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 1999

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    01/31, 07:48pm | report spam | Reply |

    iTunes & QuickTime

    What are these numbers supposed to mean? iTunes uses QuickTime, even on Windows, so why is the number of users for QuickTime smaller than the number of iTunes users? Why distinguishes between iTunes and QuickTime? I don't really see the point here...

  1. _Rick_V_

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2003

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    02/01, 09:18am | report spam | Reply |

    Where's Flash?

    I agree with Testudo, these numbers are completely utterly useless and pointless.

    I also assumed that Real was surpassed years ago. I can't even remember the last time I've seen a Realplayer-enabled site. It also shows how, strategically, Real shot themselves in their own foot with the spyware debacle several years ago (which they never recovered from). It also doesn't help that they make it nearly impossible to find and download their free player (without practically giving your mothers' maiden name).

    From strictly a browser plug-in, I bet ALL media plug-ins numbers are down. Flash is eating everyone's lunch, in this regard.

    Quicktime and iTunes are married, it's silly to try and separate them.

    I also like the idea (mentioned above) of using a single-extension for movie files, and letting use decide which media player plugin we want to use (like .mp3 now).

  1. christophersj

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2003

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    02/01, 02:37pm | report spam | Reply |

    LOTS of reasons for Real

    Many of us who like to keep in touch with the world value Real Player very much:

    BBC NPR C-SPAN

    All use Real Streams

    Thats a huge amount of information and video/audio resources.

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