Apple’s iTunes Music Store grabs leadership of German online music market
“Apple has broken its customary reticence to reveal its German sales figures through the service. The company now claims the iTunes Music Store to be the market-leading service in the country, selling over 15.5 million songs there in 2005, reports the Financial Times in Germany. The sales put it narrowly ahead of closest competitor, Musicload (operated by T-Online, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom),” Macworld UK reports.
“T-Online rejected Apple’s claims, citing 15 million song sales of its own,” Macworld UK reports. “However, 1.5 per cent of those sales were given away free of charge, while Apple says free song downloads don’t count toward its figures.”