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iTunes Now Number Two Music Retailer in the US
Apple(R) today announced that iTunes(R) (http://www.itunes.com/)
is now the number two music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart,
based on the latest data from the NPD Group*. Apple also announced that
there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers. iTunes has sold
over four billion songs, with an incredible 20 million songs sold on
Christmas Day 2007 alone, and offers the world's largest music catalog
of over six million songs from all of the majors and thousands of
independent labels.
"We'd like to thank the over 50 million music lovers who have helped
the iTunes Store reach this incredible milestone," said Eddy Cue,
Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We continue to add great new
features like iTunes Movie Rentals to give our customers even more
reason to love iTunes."
Last month, Apple launched iTunes Movie Rentals featuring movies
from all of the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The
Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home
Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),
Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies and watch them on
their PCs or Macs, all current generation iPods**, iPhone(TM) and on a
widescreen TV with Apple TV(R). iTunes Movie Rentals will offer over
1,000 titles by the end of this month, including over 100 titles in
stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound
which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV.
iTunes 7.6 is available as a free download at http://www.itunes.com/.
iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only and are $2.99 (US)
for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition
versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99
(US) and new releases at $4.99 (US). Movie rentals from the iTunes
Store for Mac(R) or Windows require iTunes 7.6. iTunes Movie Rentals
require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of
purchase.
*Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group's MusicWatch
survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and
counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions.
The iTunes Music Store became the second-largest music retailer in the
US after Wal-Mart, based on the amount of music sold during 2007.
**Movie rentals work on iPod(R) classic, iPod nano with video and iPod touch.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the
Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the
Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation
with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and
professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media
revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes
online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its
revolutionary iPhone.
(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac,
Mac OS and Macintosh, iTunes, iPhone, Apple TV and iPod are trademarks
of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their
respective owners.

