Promo takes us from 2003 to 2013 with “milestones” for each year

Apr 24, 2013 12:10 GMT  ·  By

Apple today announced “A Decade of iTunes,” a celebratory campaign that looks at the evolution of Apple’s digital distribution platform, including its subsequent ramifications – iBookstore, App Store – and the devices that came along these lines in over 10 years.

The Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. is celebrating 10 years of iTunes, “a decade marked by stunning musical and technological evolution.”

“From historic iPod releases to the debut of groundbreaking artists, our timeline captures key moments in our history.”

The campaign also offers a look back at the defining albums and songs that made the top ranks over the years.

In 2003, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store with 200,000 songs priced at 99 (US) cents apiece. The top selling song on April 28, the day it debuted, was Stuck in a Moment by U2. In its first week, the iTunes Music Store sold over a million songs.

On the same day, Apple announced the third-generation iPod, which had enough storage capacity to hold 7,500 songs.

A few months later, the first iPod + iTunes silhouette TV ad aired, and on October 16 Apple released iTunes for Windows.

In 2004, Apple introduced the iPod mini with five color options. 50 million songs had been downloaded at that time, and the iTunes Store went international soon thereafter.

In 2005, Apple introduced the iPod shuffle, the smallest of all the iPods, and the most affordable one, too. Apple then added a few more countries to the list of supported territories, and launched Podcasts on the iTunes Store.

Later in the year, Apple introduced the iPod nano, the fifth-generation iPod, and TV shows.

In 2006, iTunes sold its billionth song and the venue began offering full-length movies.

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In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone and the Apple TV, both of which helped iTunes make more sense for the mainstream. Apple launched iTunes U in the same year.

In 2008, iTunes became America’s No. 1 music retailer with 5 billion songs downloaded since debut. Soon afterwards, the iPhone 3G was launched. Apple soon introduced the App Store (as part of the iTunes Store) with a mere 500 apps. Today, the count is close to a billion.

Also in 2008, Apple introduced Genius, a feature that helps users discover new content based on the stuff they already have in their libraries.

In 2009, Apple announced 2 billion App Store downloads and more than 100,000 apps available for download on iPhone and iPod touch (the iPad hadn’t been invented yet).

In 2010, Apple introduced the iPad and the iBookstore, and announced the 10 billionth downloaded song on iTunes. Also worth noting, Apple in 2010 launched the entire Beatles catalog in digital format (a first for the band).

A year later, Apple announced the 10 billionth downloaded app on the iTunes App Store for iDevices. iCloud was later introduced and the digital distribution venue was further expanded to Brazil and 15 more countries in Latin America.

2012 saw the introduction of an all-new iTunes U app, and a new version of the iTunes application with a redesigned player, a remodeled store and more iCloud integration.

As far as this year is concerned, Apple has only a handful of milestones to highlight: 25 billion songs sold; 40 billion app downloads; and the very 10th anniversary celebration we’ve just discussed.