Sunday, July 17, 2005 is the date that Apple sold its 500,000,000th iTunes song. At 14:44, Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana purchased “Mississippi Girl” by Faith Hill to win the grand prize of Apple’s contest to 500 million downloads.
As the grand prize winner, Amy wins 10 iPods – iPod, iPod mini, iPod U2 or iPod shuffle – of her choosing, a Gold 10,000-song Gift Card along with 10 additional 50-song gift cards for her iPods, a trip to see Coldplay on tour with three of her friends and a backstage pass to meet the band.
Apple went all out. Holding an 80% marketshare of legal downloads, Apple is the trendsetter for digital music. Selling music tracks in 19 countries, Apple has become the go-to company for the digital lifestyle.
As legal music downloads become more and more popular, Apple looks to continue its virtual monopoly over digital downloads and Mp3 players with its hugely popular iPod. Apple recently updated its classic iPod line to include color displays, which many believe to be a precursor for a video iPod and a possible movie download store.
Look within the next year to see another Apple promotion to find out who will be the lucky one to the 1,000,000,000th download. Microsoft, eat your heart out.