February 23: Celebrating a Milestone in Apple’s Legacy
On February 23, 2010, the iTunes Store achieved an milestone-despite-toncoin-challenges/” title=”TON Blockchain Celebrates 1 Billion Transactions Milestone Despite Toncoin Challenges”>impressive milestone by surpassing the landmark of 10 billion music downloads. This achievement was marked by a memorable purchase—“Guess Things Happen That Way” performed by Johnny Cash, which became the ten billionth download.
A Lucky Winner and Exciting Rewards
The individual who made this historic purchase was Louie Sulcer from Woodstock, Georgia. As part of Apple’s promotional event titled “Countdown to 10 Billion Songs,” he won a $10,000 gift card for the iTunes Store and experienced an unexpected thrill—a personal phone call from none other than Steve Jobs himself!
Louie, who is not only a father of three but also a grandfather to nine grandchildren, recounted to Rolling Stone that he had no knowledge of this much-publicized contest while purchasing the song. He intended it as part of a Johnny Cash mixtape for his son.
An Unbelievable Call
During his conversation with Jobs—which Sulcer initially suspected to be an elaborate prank—he repeatedly doubted whether it was really Steve Jobs on the line. To verify authenticity, he scrutinized his caller ID and discovered it displayed “Apple,” leading him to reconsider his disbelief.
A Record-Breaking Month for iTunes
The achievement on February 23 marked significant progress for iTunes that month; it officially became the largest music retailer globally. However, this milestone wasn’t Apple’s first celebratory moment regarding their online music platform.
Previously, on December 15, 2003—merely eight months after launching—the platform celebrated its remarkable achievement of reaching its first quarter-century million downloads with another notable winner: someone purchased Frank Sinatra’s rendition of “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
The journey continued less than one year later when Apple celebrated selling its hundred millionth track—a remix titled “Somersault (Dangermouse remix)” by Zero 7—notably purchased by Kevin Britten from Hays, Kansas. Like Sulcer before him, Britten also received rewards including a personal call from Jobs alongside another $10k gift card and even won himself a high-end PowerBook laptop!
A Shift in Approach towards Sales Announcements
In recent times though, Apple’s stance has transitioned toward confidentiality regarding sales metrics. The company now shies away from making announcements about individual device sales figures; notably during its monumental sale exceeding one billion iPhones without much fanfare. In fact, more recently in early increments shared through press releases about quarterly earnings stated that as many as two billion devices were actively being used worldwide as of October 2023.
This adherence to discretion extends across various fronts including stats for Apple Watch and viewership data for services like Apple TV+. The company continues emphasizing competitive strategy over publicizing achievements repeatedly.
Your Thoughts?
What do you remember about your initial song purchase from iTunes? Share your experiences below!
