Apple’s music, services top Microsoft’s online services
All of Redmond’s money and all of Redmond’s men couldn’t prevent the company’s slide. And, despite the worsening recession, the virtual economy began growing again in the third quarter of this year.
Strategy Analytics has released their latest Strategy Analytics Digital Media Index (DMI), which shows Apple’s “Music Related Products and Services” segment, which includes iTunes, overtook revenues in Microsoft’s “Online Services Business” segment for the first time.
Overall, the latest iteration of the index shows revenue growth in global digital media resumed last quarter with 1.5 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in Q3 2008, up from minus 0.2 percent in the previous quarter but down from almost 7 percent growth in the same period last year. Among the Top 5, Amazon delivered the best performance and eBay the worst.
Martin Olausson, Director of Digital Media Research at Strategy Analytics said:
“While we saw a return to overall growth in the third quarter, it is still too early to talk about a turnaround as many of the leading companies in this index continue to show slowing quarter-on-quarter growth”—Jia Wu, Analyst at Strategy Analytics’ Digital Consumer Practice
“Although it is clear that the digital economy isn’t isolated from the offline world and the global financial crisis, the digital media sector has grown an impressive 26% in the last 12 months and should continue to outperform most offline sectors in the tough months ahead”
Other tidbits of interest from the Q3 2008 Digital Media Index include:
It’s interesting that iTunes has experienced some negative growth in recent months, but has turned that around in Strategy Analytics latest index. And, is anyone surprised that Google has lost some of its luster and that the biggest growth is occurring, uninterrupted, in China?
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