If you have seen it, maybe you did and also wondered for a moment at what the slogan wants to say... "iTunes turns five"?
Of course, it is not a question of a fifth version of the software iTunes (exceeded since we are already at iTunes 7): this slogan is to remind us that what was called then "iTunes music store", the second stage of the iPod rocket (launched to a quasi-skeptical general public in 2001), opened its doors five years ago in the United States.
One could almost ignore this information since the iTunes Store of today is just so clearly obvious to everyone. However let us briefly recall the facts for the sake of 'history'. Everyone knows that Apple computers (became since then Apple, Inc), made a success of a historical change of direction from being solely involved in the data-processing world towards the universe of the digital lifestyle, thanks to online music.
The experienced negotiator, Steve Jobs, knew how to impose onto the music majors a mode of distribution and remuneration which in effect installed his 'juke-box' at the top of its category. The competition still seeks to join the parade, especially since ITS today is changing focus towards the video, before evolving/moving tomorrow towards subscription models of the unlimited downloads? Who knows...
In 2003 with the Web talking only of the G5 future, that promised to relegate G4 to be "the computer of secretary" (the words of Lionel), it was not this ultimate misadventure with the PowerPC that will have allowed the rebirth that led to the rise of the market share of Apple.
More discrete, perhaps, it is the chance taken with IT(M)S and this proved to be decisive on the long term. To carefully facilitate its entry in the "dark" universe , iTunes was a remarkable Trojan horse for Apple. To bring the funds necessary for the transition to INTEL, the income of the online music were essential. To confer on Apple, then on the decline, the label of outsider perpetually innovating that it enjoys today, the ITMS marked a historical turning point-- a term which is not easily used in the world of new technologies.
What can we wish from this company that made this beautiful American come back? Putting business aside, it would be undoubtedly to recreate a little of the special bond that, in the past, attached it to its fans, a magic that the growth of the sales, apart from the circle of the shareholders, can not be replaced....
[translation by crispin]
