The Amazon MP3 store has finally opened in the UK with a raft of albums selling for 3 (about $5). I’m not quite sure how they are getting away with it, but they are also integrating with iTunes, allowing you to automatically import purchases into iTunes. Let’s get this straight;
Amazon are cheaper than iTunes
Amazon are selling MP3s - which have no DRM
Amazon have more music than iTunes
The Amazon download client integrates your music into iTunes automatically
Amazon allow one click purchase of music
It’s a no-brainer, isn’t it. Prepare to see iTunes profits fall through the floor - which, if it happens, will prompt Mr Jobs to shut the store. The application will remain of course, but the store may well vanish.
Apple are not in the business of selling software (and music is software) - they never have been. Apple sell hardware. They cannot compete with Amazon, and neither should they try to. Nintendo have already taught the entire games industry a lesson about selling hardware at a loss (they have never done so), and Apple would be wise to follow suit.
Having said that, Nintendo’s new DS has of course got an SD card slot, a camera, and MP3 and movie software built in. Competition for the iTouch and iPod range perhaps? A couple of million kids with Nintendo DS’s could pose a huge threat to Apple.
Meanwhile, Amazon will sell MP3s to anybody and everybody, and will laugh all the way to the bank.
The sale of MP3s on a mass scale brings another issue to the table. If you have bought an MP3, can you sell it on in the same way that you might other software?