Sony To Challenge Apple with Its Own Music Download Service

Sony To Challenge Apple with Its Own Music Download Service
But despite iTunes' success in the United States, where it sold 70 million song downloads in its first year, and the status of Apple's distinctive white iPod digital music players, internationally acknowledged as the must-have handheld for the serious music fan, Apple faces big hurdles.

US computing giant Apple has this week launched a full-scale assault on Europe's music market, but it faces fierce competition from rivals such as Sony and Virgin as well as growing customer complaints.
In what it has billed as "the biggest thing in Europe", Apple has unveiled a strategy for its European version of its popular iTunes music download service as well as the European shipping date for the iPod Mini digital music player and AirPort Express, a ₤99 (�150) handheld plug-in device that wirelessly streams sound from an Apple computer to a hi-fi.

But despite iTunes' success in the United States, where it sold 70 million song downloads in its first year, and the status of Apple's distinctive white iPod digital music players, internationally acknowledged as the must-have handheld for the serious music fan, Apple faces big hurdles.
When the company launched iTunes in the US last year, it had a clear field as well as the whole-hearted support of a music industry devastated by illegal downloading.

Now Apple has competition.