iTunes, Apple’s media player and library application, was released in January 9, 2001, but it wasn’t until 2003 when Apple turned it into a revenue cash cow with the launch of the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003.  Since then, the music store has evolved into the ultimate media marketplace, selling movies, books, magazines, podcasts, applications and of course music.

As iTunes approaches its 10th birthday, let’s recap on the many milestones of this revolution in digital media.

iTunes : 10 Years of Milestones

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April 28, 2004 – iTunes Music Store celebrates first anniversary with over 70 million songs sold.

July 11, 2004 – Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas bought the 100 millionth song, “Somersault (Dangermouse remix)” by Zero 7, and received a call from then Apple CEO Steve Jobs who congratulated him with a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs.

December 16, 2004 – Ryan Alekman of Belchertown, Massachusetts bought the 200 millionth song (which is part of U2‘s digital box set, The Complete U2.)

July 18, 2005 – Amy Greer from Lafayette, Indiana bought the 500 millionth song, Faith Hill’s “Mississippi Girl,” and received 10 iPods to share with family and friends, an iTunes gift card for 10,000 songs and an all-expenses paid trip for four to see Coldplay on their world tour.

February 23, 2006 – Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Mich., bought the one billionth song, Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound,” and received 10 new iPods, a 20-inch iMac, a $10,000 iTunes gift card, and Apple also set up a scholarship in his name at the Juilliard School of Music.

January 9, 2007 – iTunes store sold two billion songs, 50 million TV shows and 1.3 million movies.

April 11, 2007 – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. announced the availability of its films on the iTunes Store.

April 3, 2008 – iTunes Store surpassed Wal-Mart as the top music retailer in the US.

February 24, 2010 – Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia bought the 10 billionth song, “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash, and received $10,000 iTunes Gift Card.  Sulcer is the oldest milestone winner at 71 years of age.  It became the largest music vendor with over 12 million songs in its catalog.

February 6, 2013 – Phillip Lüpke from Germany bought the 25 billionth song, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, and received a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card.

The iTunes Store is celebrating its 10th year anniversary on April 28, and hitting the 25 billion milestone is a good wat to start its journey to 20.  The next stop is 50 billion songs, but that may take some time especially with the cloud music services getting traction.  What can iTunes do to ensure its longevity?

4 things iTunes Store needs to survive another 10 years

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Subscription Service

iTunes needs to launch a subscription service like Spotify or Pandora to cater to people who are willing to pay a fee for unlimited music access rather than pay a dollar for each song, or more an entire album.

Web Service

Apple offers to store and stream your music collection in the cloud for $25 a year, but the catch is that you need an iOS device or iTunes installed on your desktop to access your music collection.  Apple can make iTunes Match better by offering web access, so even if you’re not using your own computer or don’t have your iPhone or iPad in hand, you can still enjoy your music collection anytime, anywhere.

Better discovery

When you browse through iTunes and select a particular song or album, Apple presents you with recommendations based on what other consumers have purchased.  The problem is, this doesn’t really tell you what you want, nor does it doesn’t help you discover content related to what you are interested in.   Wouldn’t it be better if these recommendations were truly personalized?

More social

Right now, you can share your music on Facebook or Twitter from the iTunes Store, but there are other social networks the iTunes can tap into.  Also, this basic social integration doesn’t really allow you to see what your friends are listening to on iTunes, just what they share from the iTunes Store.  So it would be great if users can actually share music on social networking sites to their friends.  And to the benefit of Apple, this could further boost music sales on iTunes.

What the future holds

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Apple collects patents like none other, more recently acquiring one patent that hints at future iterations of iTunes. The “On-device offline purchases using credits” patent describes a way to be able to apply credits to purchase content already stored on your device, but do not own, even when you’re offline.

A user would first buy credits that can be used for offline purchasing.  Then the user would create a list of items that he may wish to purchase in the future, similar to a wish list.  So anytime, you can make a purchase for items you want, and Apple gets a heads up on your consumer intent.