Earnings: Apple Says No To “Rental” Music Model (sub. req.)

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer told analysts during the 3Q05 earnings call that “we just don’t think very many customers are interested in renting their music. So we think that the success of the iTunes Music Stores show that most customers want to own their music.”
Also from the call:
iTunes: No update on the number of podcast downloads but there are more than 4,000 free shows available. The iTunes Music Store, heading towards 500 million song downloads, operated above break-even during the quarter. Oppenheimer said “we are very pleased with our sales. They go up and down a little bit each week, depending on seasonality and new hot releases. Overall, music sales are growing, and I am very happy that our market share has increased to over 80 percent.”
iPod: Inventory is within range of 4-6 weeks. Tim Cook, EVP-worldwide sales and operations: “We believe that most locations that we had around the world, our channel partners and our direct stores had good supply during the quarter, and that the 6.2 million unit number … was representative of end-user demand during the quarter.” iPods are now in about 25,000 retail outlets around the world.

Motorola iPhone: Oppenheimer said he couldn’t answer a question about reported plans of a UK launch with Virgin in August or whether thee company is getting closer to resolving issues with other carriers.

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