http://www.macnn.com/articles/03/09/23/apple.leads/
Apple leads market, faces tough competition
updated 11:15 am EDT, Tue September 23, 2003
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Apple is widely in online music, despite catering to about only 3% of personal computer users, according to a BusinessWeek article by Standard & Poor's Scott Kessler, other players such as Sony, Amazon, Roxio, and BuyMusic.com are tough competition: "the perils of competition in Internet music and video represent stumbling blocks for RealNetworks, in our opinion. ...Based upon these considerations, what we consider limited prospects for RealNetworks to generate earnings over the next three years, and the stock's recent price, we think its shares are overvalued."
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2001
Jobs is smart
A few days ago he said iTMS isn't a good way to make music, but Apple is now selling many more iPods as a result. This is a huge strategy difference. Real doesn't have its own high profit margin music player to take advantage of crossover sales. Other online music dealers have deals with hardware manufacturers but there's nothing like selling the whole widget and getting all the profit.
And on top of it, Apple's iPod is one of the most expensive and least gadget-filled players and yet it's probably got the highest marketshare for mp3 players.