Apple iPhone delayed as iTunes crashes
by Brian Turner
Expectations that Apple may announce an iPhone in January may be dashed.
Suggestions and rumours that Apple were going to launch an “iPhone” with Motorola – a mobile device merging phone and iPod technology – have been alive for years.
Speculation became heightened that the long-awaited device would see a launch at this coming January’s MacWorld Expo.
This was encouraged by Apple’s demonstration of iTV in September – a home theatre content streaming device – and patent application in August for a combined music player/phone combo.
However, market analysts think Apple fans are losing touch with reality.
CIBC World Markets doesn’t believe we’ll see an iPhone until nearer the middle of 2007, and other analysts agree.
Compounding the problem is that according to a Forrester’s Research, sales from Apple’s iTunes online store have tanked over 2006, losing 65% of overall revenue due to declining sales.
So while Apple may not be in a hurry to acknowledge an iPhone is coming, they will need to get their act together to regain momentum in the digital entertainment market.
The big danger is, any iPhone will deliver too little too late in the face of rampant expectation.
ADDED: Update the to story here: iTunes fall raises controversy
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“The biggest danger is…” to idiot commentary sites like this that regurgitate yesterday’s news without checking their facts first.
What a sensational piece of journalism!! Apple has denied that iTunes sales are crashing. Just some survey!! Also, analysts are calling for 17 million iPods to be sold this quarter. There are only rumors about iPhones and iPhone Delays. No substance!
This is getting out of hand ! Here we have a report that a non-existant, un-announced product is not going to ship when it was rumoured to ship because an ‘analyst’ who doesn’t know how to add up started the (incorrect) rumour that iTunes was bombing. Utter gash.
Honestly, I wish at least one website would exercise some journalistic integrity and check some damned facts before posting a news story today !
I think the report is simply that analysts think expectations for the iPhone are too high, for too soon.
As for poor journalism on the iTunes sales – Apple say sales are fine but won’t post figures. With facts like that, if Reuters posts a correction, I’ll be happy to do likewise. :)
Reuters never posted this as a fact like you just did. So please correct your article to be in line with what Reuters reported.
This supposed slump in iTunes was stated by Forrester’s Research, this doesn’t make it a fact.
The article fails to mention it comes from a research from a third-party research firm which doesn’t have access to the actual sales numbers.
Just add “According to a Forrester’s Research…”, and while you’re at it, you could add that Apple (which has access to the real sales numbers) just officially stated that this research was incorrect.
why is everyone in such a hurry to kill apple….. geez
I cant wait for apple to prove everyone wrong…..they always do…. and its always so unexpected…when it shouldnt be
the reason articles like this get written is because people are afraid that apple may pull another rabbit out of the hat…..
It’s the headline that is most disturbing, sounds more like a supermarket tabloid. “Two headed boy born to 14 year-old in Boston alley…..” There has never been an announced iPhone or ship date so it can’t possibly be delayed, and the implied link to the alleged itunes sales drop doesn’t make sense… if anything, a drop in itune sales might spur the early release of the (at present) “Vaporware” iphone!
Shows you how easy it is to have a news website (regurgitate without investigation).
Gotta go, setting up my own news site.
[...] The conclusion was that iTunes revenues had fallen 65% over the year. [...]
Considering rumours about an iPhone have been around since around 2002, I should thank the Apple community for the hype, not the media for following it.
And if iTunes really has seen a 65% loss of revenue, that’s a major headline, and nothing tabloid at all in calling a spade a spade.
Wow! He must feel like an idiot. Aren’t reportes supposed to do SOME research on their own? Sad.
See above. Then get a new job.
“And if iTunes really has seen a 65% loss of revenue, that’s a major headline, and nothing tabloid at all in calling a spade a spade.”
Brian, this is not a fact, this is what Forrester Research estimates, based on some survey they did with about 180 households.
Unlike you, the Reuters article doesn’t state the 65% decline as a fact.
From Reuters:
“Since January 2006 the number of monthly iTunes transactions has declined 58 percent, while the average size per purchase declined by 17 percent, leading to a 65-percent overall drop in monthly iTunes revenue, U.S. market research group Forrester said in a survey among North American consumers.”
Note the last part: “U.S. market research group Forrester said”
Your article doesn’t include anything like that, and the headlines states it as a fact. Reuters are professionals, and you… don’t act like Reuters.
I work in the survey business, and I know how survey can be biased, especially with such a small sample. There’s no facts supporting this decline, even the Reuters article cannot back you up.
Marc, do you think the Reuters article reporting a 65% fall in iTunes, is both factual and professional?
Do you think that the fact that the Forrester report is apparently a private investor document not provided in full to media, and that Apple will not provide iTunes figures to counter the excerpts reported, therefore allows for any *exact* facts to be reported?
I’m not claiming anything here – simply reporting an apparent story that filled the pages of the world media today.
Perhaps the fact that so few of them allow anonymous comments to be published on their websites makes Platinax so attractive to some of the most charismatic of Apple users.
[...] This became very clear today when I reported on the recent debacle over the iTunes sales figures. [...]
What’s really funny about all this, is that Apple said from the onset, that they never planned or expected to make any money selling iTunes. It was all for selling iPods.
If anybody’s sales are tanking, it’s the record labels, who are the ones who actually, in fact, sell their music through their iTunes seller accounts. Apple takes a small cut (1-2 cents?). But the only way Apple can lose money on the venture is for iPod sales to tank, and there’s no sign of that.
Beyond all else, this writer’s over sensationalized approach to “journalism” is just laughable. However, the article was successful in it’s intent. It got plenty of hits from people who just wanted to see another blogger make an ass of himself.
As for the origins of the story; it was simply a stock manipulation ploy. Nothing else.
“Marc, do you think the Reuters article reporting a 65% fall in iTunes, is both factual and professional?”
As I stated before, the Reuters article didn’t report a 65% fall in iTunes, it reported that Forrester did a survey that had these results.
But here’s an interesting twist, please go read this blog entry:
http://blogs.forrester.com/devicesmedia/2006/12/itunes_sales_ar.html
It seems that even Forrester themselves never claimed a 65% decline in sales… It was the media (mainly UK based The Register and Bloomberg) that misinterpreted Forrester’s report summary (which is public) and transformed it into a story of “iTunes sales collapsing”.
Then the rest of media repeated the same twisted story everywhere, without even reading the original report summary…
While the actual Forrester report is private, a brief summary was public, and that’s what was misinterpreted.
One last thing, if you wonder why your comment section was “invaded” by Apple fans, look no further than http://www.macsurfer.com which is a central part of the Mac community.
Unbelievable! This is really bad journalism! Please take some time to add the numbers given… iTunes is growing at a tremendous clip… more than 3 million songs per day my friend…
[...] and journalists used the information in concert with Nielsen data to determine a claim of a 65% fall in iTunes sales over the year. [...]
This is just irresponsible reporting. Weren’t the least bit skeptical at such a huge drop? 65% ? Are you kidding? So many of these supposed news sites just report what they read on other sites.
Apple may be tight-lipped for the moment – but once their financials come out in January we’ll see what the actual truth on the iTunes sales is.