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Digital
iPad users less likely to use iTunes store for music
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 29 September 2011
Sales on Apple’s iTunes store are at an all time high, though the number of buyers downloading music from the service has fallen from 82% to 75%, according to US research from the NPD Group. The reason for this is the growth of the iPad, users of which are more likely to download apps and other content products, partly because that is where much of the hype has been with Apple’s tablet device.
But, says NPD, it needn’t be that way. The research firm’s Russ Crupnick reckons the music business just needs to work out different ways to engage users of iPads rather than those accessing iTunes via a conventional computer. Billboard quote Crupnick as saying: “There’s no reason the music or video industry should accept a loss of buyers as device preferences change. They have significant opportunities to foster discovery, engagement, and purchases using the tablet platform”.
Of course once you get into thinking about how to better engage with and sell music content to tablet computer users (or smartphone users, for that matter), you also have to consider the fact that those using non-Apple devices can’t access iTunes anyway. The tablet market expanded yesterday, of course, with the launch of an Amazon tablet device, the Amazon Fire, which is notable mainly by its price point. It will arrive in US shops in November priced $199, compared to Apple’s bargain basement iPad which retails at $499.
