More than 25 billion songs have been downloaded from the Apple iTunes store since it opened ten years ago, according to an announcement this week. Apple has given Phillip Lüpke, who downloaded the 25 billionth song, a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card as a reward.
The iTunes store currently holds over 26 million songs.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, said “We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world. Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”
There’s also been good news from BlackBerry, which started selling its new Z10 smartphone last week. Initial sales in the UK and Canada have broken company records for a product launch.
Thorsten Heins, President & CEO of BlackBerry, said “In Canada, yesterday [Tuesday 5th February] was the best day ever for the first day of a launch of a new BlackBerry smartphone. In fact, it was more than 50% better than any other launch day in our history in Canada. In the UK, we have seen close to three times our best performance ever for the first week of sales for a BlackBerry smartphone.”