Apple claims that its iTunes music download service has bagged more than 5 billion downloads since its inception. The news follows recent announcements that iTunes movies has opened in the UK and is now serving 50,000 movie downloads every day and that iTunes has overtaken Wal-mart as the largest music donwload service in the US.
Itunes offers both DRM (Digital Rights Management) protected tracks and non-DRM tracks and only recently reported that it was responsible for 3 billion downloads. 10 months ago, Apple claimed the significant 3 billion download milestone and barely more than 2 years ago they were only bragging about their first billion.
The news is also a big indication that Steve Jobs is keeping to his promise of breathing fresh life into the iTunes movie service, which had previously proven unpopular. Following the release of iTunes movies in the UK, Apple also announced a number of major content partners and movie studios, which looks to have improved the figures significantly and make the film and TV download service yet another strong addition to the now extensive Apple portfolio.
Other download services look like they have some serious distance to go in catching up with Apple.
