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Apple Announces that iTunes Podcast Subscriptions Have Topped One Million
by , 3:55 PM EDT, June 30th, 2005
Apple on Thursday announced that in just two days since the release of iTunes 4.9, subscriptions to podcasts through the software have topped the one million mark. Former MTV VJ Adam Curry, who is co-founder of the PodShow Podcast Network, said in a statement: "Subscriptions have dramatically increased across our entire PodShow Podcast Network, and I predict over the coming months that iTunes will introduce tens of millions of new listeners to the world of Podcasting."
Others concurred, according to Apple's press release: KCRW management consultant Will Lewis said that iTunes has "propelled podcasting into the mainstream. Our servers have been swamped with a stratospheric increase in traffic. In fact, downloads have increased tenfold as a result of the iTunes 4.9 launch."
August Trometer, who created the podcast client iPodderX, compared Apple to Starbucks, noting that "gourmet coffee was around for a long time, but it took Starbucks to put it on the Map ... advertisers will take us more seriously now."
But could Apple's new podcasting functionality run afoul of this week's Supreme Court decision that struck a blow to Grokster and similar peer-to-peer file sharing services? A TechWhack opinion column published on Thursday raises the possibility, noting: "organizations like RIAA and MPAA can sue Apple if users post copyrighted material to the iTunes servers making it available for download to other users. However, the ruling also mentioned that the intent of the file sharing service should be taken into consideration when making such decisions."
In related news, AppleInsider has confirmed that iTunes 4.9 already works with certain Motorola cell phones and has posted a screenshot of an "iPod Phone" preference pane in iTunes. The Web site said that one of its readers connected his Motorola cell phone to his Mac and iTunes 4.9 prompted him to name the phone and allowed him to transfer songs to it. AppleInsider also offered speculation that Cingular's quality assurance procedures could be causing the delay in the iTunes phone rollout.
Observer Comments
Well, let's take a look at a random sample of Microsoft PR:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jun05/06-27MSToshibaStrengthenPR.mspx
Whoah, that's really groundbreaking! Notice that it's a SIGNIFICANT expansion of global relationship with Toshiba. Not just some kind of "normal" expansion. I also think that Apple should sit on news until it becomes as big as that.
They should also stop beaming their press info directly into "Guest's" head. Clearly, their brain scans are bothering him which is why he came to this Mac-news site to complain about the Mac-news he's seeing. It is unfair that he has to be exposed to Mac-news he doesn't want to see. Something should be done about that.
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
my my... sarcasm: the lowest form of humor (then again, I don't really think Small White Car succeeded in being humorous either).
Well, thankfully, I wasn't trying to impress you. So everything worked out just fine.
(I've always wondered what the highest form of humor is, BTW. Do you know what it is? Just curious, and you sound like you might know.)
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
(But then again, this promotion of "1 million" of everything that Apple tends to do is indeed quite funny!)
This is what I'm getting at. You say they're "promoting" it, but really, you have to go out of your way to see that kind of news. I don't see it on TV or in newspapers or anything. How can something like that seem silly to you if you're coming to a page like THIS?
Anyway, if it makes you laugh...go for it. I've never been one to stop people from enjoying themselves.
QuoteAnonymous wrote:
Um, so according to you, something is only "promoted" if its on TV or in a newspaper?
No, that's not my point at all. My point is that you would inadvertantly see it if it's on TV or in a newspaper.
So if it's being forced on you (like if it's on TV) then finding it annoying or funny or whatever would make sense. But if you have to actually go on the web to look it up, I don't see that as being very "in your face" and thus I don't understand what's bothersome about it.
QuoteBrutno wrote:QuoteGuest wrote:
17 million copies of WinXP sold and NO press release) is doing exactly that here.
If I were Microsoft I wouldn't be touting a measly 17 million either. That's an incredibly LOW number compared to the installed Windows base.
Well, don't spend too much time trying to figure it out, 'cause it's not true. Just ask yourself this: If Microsoft never told anyone, how do we know it's 17 million copies?
Well, of course we know because they told us.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/jan02/01-07xpmomentumcespr.mspx
I'm not exactly clear why "not issuing a press release" is something to make up. It's a perfectly normal part of business that everyone does. Why try to pretend that Microsoft is too dumb to do something so simple? Of course they issue press releases about everything.
Thu Jun 30, 2005 7:26 pm Subject: Re: Make peace...
Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:21 pm Subject:
17 million would be something to crow about? Okay... at the current rate of subscribing, Apple will reach the 17 million mark on 1 August.
Did Microsoft sell 17 million copies (not bundled with PCs) in a little over 30 days? Just curious.
1 million subscriptions in 48 hours = almost 6 per second. Not a bad rate for something like podcasts. BTW, Apple initially hoped that they would sell 1M songs on iTMS in the first year...it took something like two weeks. THAT is why they did a press release about it. It far exceeded their (and everybody else's) expectations.
(And do I think podcast subscriptions will maintain that rate? No. But that is not the point. The point is that the current rate is pretty phenomenal).
QuoteGuest wrote:
Wow! 17 million people begging for viruses and spyware. A phisher's dream come true!
You bet your butt!! Check this out...
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/07/01/sophos_1h05_malware_report/
Back on the subject..I wonder who's paying for all that Podcast bandwidth.
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