Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
Amazon is also going all
out to make download purchases more for all-comers by not requiring
buyers to install Amazon MP3 Downloader, its equivalent to the iTunes
software. To purchase music from iTunes, users must first install
iTunes software on a Windows PC, Mac or another Apple device capable of
connecting to the Internet. Amazon MP3 only requires that a device can
connect to the Internet and accept downloads using Amazon's shopping
system, regardless of the operating system.
The Amazon MP3 Downloader, which enables users to automatically
add MP3 downloads to iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries, is
currently only available for Windows and Mac OS but Amazon has said
that a Linux version will be available soon. Apple has never expressed
plans to make iTunes available for Linux. At present, Linux users in
the US can download unrestricted MP3 tracks from the Amazon store and
manually load them into their software music library of choice. Buying
music from iTunes, however, is problematic.
For Apple the Amazon
push also comes at an awkward time for its music player business.
Apple's latest earnings report showed that iPod sales growth is
flattening as the market for portable music players matures.
Some
market watchers believe that the music companies could be in danger of
simply replacing Apple's dominance in music downloads with Amazon - in
essence swapping one 800 pound gorilla with another. However, it is
more likely that the labels will try to fragment the downloads market
using retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy, as well as helping to
support the rumoured entry of Yahoo into music downloads.
With
Amazon MP3 and Yahoo said to be holding talks with the major labels to
launch its own DRM-free music store, the pressure is on Apple to cut a
deal with the big three music companies as soon as possible for
DRM-free downloads on iTunes. However, that may be problematical given
that the big three seem to believe that it is in their interests to try
to break Apple's vice like grip on the retail music downloads business.
Meanwhile,
consumers around the world are waiting on further announcements to see
how quickly Amazon is able to roll out its international music download
service.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
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