Apple denies iTunes sales slump

Apples has rejected claims that sales of content through its iTunes store have slumped.

A study by analysts Forrester Research had claimed that monthly iTunes revenue fell by 65 per cent during the first six months of 2006.

But an Apple spokesman said: "The conclusion that iTunes sales are slowing is simply incorrect."

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Forrester conducted an analysis of more than 2,700 US iTunes debit and credit card transactions over a two-year period from April 2004 to June 2006.

The Forrester report said: "It is too soon to tell if this decline was seasonal or if buyers were reaching their saturation level for digital music.

"During the previous year, iTunes revenue fell after the holidays but rose significantly in May," the report added.

But the Apple spokesman said 1.5 billion songs have now been purchased from the iTunes store and iTunes is the fourth-largest music retailer in the US, accounting for six per cent of the country's music sales.

Apple racked up more than one billion song downloads earlier in the year from its 21 iTunes music stores across the globe.