With Apple"s entry into the digital music business with the iTunes Music Store, which will be made available to Windows users later this year, "a fundamental shift in Apple"s strategy may be afoot," David Zeiler writes in a SunSpot.net column.
Although the music store and iPods may be a way to entice more people to the Mac platform, there may be an even more important piece in the puzzle, he adds. Analyst Charles Wolf of Needham & Co. estimates that once Apple has the Windows version of iTunes in place, the store could capture 20 percent of the pay-per-download market. This could translate to $600 million in annual revenue and $50 million to $60 million in operating income, nearly equal to Apple"s $65 million in profit for the 2002 fiscal year, Zeiler notes. And that"s not even counting the increased iPod sales that should be generated.