Apple Isn't The Only One With 1 Billion Downloads
Most of us couldn't help but notice thenews this week that Apple had just completed it's one billionth download,
certainly a milestone in the digital music industry. But what about the other company that just celebrated the
same? Perhaps you weren't aware that TouchTunes, a maker of digital
jukeboxes since 1998, has also downloaded over 1 billion tracks, and they did it with just 16 thousand jukeboxes, as
comapred to Apple's customer base of 42 million. Like iTunes, TouchTunes is a dominant player in it's chosen niche, and
is said to have an estimated 75 per cent share of the digital jukebox market. Learn something new every day, dontchya?
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. But keep in mind, it only took Apple 3 years to accomplish what it took TouchTunes nearly three times as long to do. It's hardly as impressive as you make it sound. But, uh, keep up the Apple bashing. You're nearly a pro! Next, post a "Apple's going out of business" story to really professionalize this blog.
Posted at 5:18PM on Feb 27th 2006 by r
3. Yes, that's right, because the only way to be professional is to bow down in fealty to the dominant forces in the marketplace, right?
If it's my posts you are referring to, I seriously have no idea what "bashing" you are talking about. In this post I called out their billionth download and declared it a "milestone". That's bashing?
I thought it was interesting that another player in the digital music world had a billion downloads, and I thought their business model would be interesting to our readers, which clearly, it was. I didn't try to make apple to apple comparisons (ahem), and it seems rather thin skinned of you to attack me for pointing out someone else's success story as if it was a slam on Apple.
If you want to read how wonderful Apple is and how they never do anything wrong, then go hang out in their press release section. For myself, I will choose to call it like I see it, and won't be praising all things Apple simply because everything is white. And I say that as both a Mac and iPod owner. So there.
Posted at 8:05PM on Feb 28th 2006 by Sharky Laguana
1. Seems to me that there's a lot of opportunity for TouchTunes. With 14,000 systems installed in North America alone, they not only have the makings of a promotional and distribution channel, but their own media network.
By leveraging the Web more, adding in support for bluetooth to provide downloads to mobile phones, or even exploring social computing concepts that are exploding on the Web would be a good move for TouchTunes. Another thing they could do is network all 14,000 systems to communicate - pop a cam on them and extend the platform to include video and allow people to check out a bar in New York while their drinking beers in San Francisco.
Thank you for pointing this company out, I believe I'll drop them an email with some ideas, plus, I'm curious if they'd be interested in working with a library of indie/unsigned music. I run http://www.ArtistServer.com - and would love to get my artists more exposure.
Posted at 3:33PM on Feb 26th 2006 by Gideon Marken