> Are you saying that iTunes, or Amazon.com, is also a shitty business? I'm betting you aren't. Yes, it is a shitty standalone business. The purpose of iTunes

> Are you saying that iTunes, or Amazon.com, is also a shitty business? I'm betting you aren't. Yes, it is a shitty standalone business. The purpose of iTunes was to sell more iPods - the whole “commoditize your complements”. The purpose of Apple Music was to be a “feature” to sell high margin Apple Watches, AirPods, HomePods, to integrate tightly with Siri, etc. > If you are, I recommend looking at how much money Apple makes on iTunes: it is sufficient to have let them subsidize sales of the iPod. That’s not what happened. SJ himself said that the purpose of iTunes was just to break even to sell iPods. iPods were high margin businesses. By the time Apple paid the labels 70% and then paid the credit card processing fees, it wasn’t make much selling 99 cent songs.