• Forrester, Tuesday, November 16, 2010 12:10 PM

That's it?! That was Apple's big game-changing announcement?! The fact that Steve Jobs finally got his hands on the Beatles catalog?! "Thank goodness that is out of the way; now we can focus on important developments," jokes Forrester's Mark Mulligan. "The fact that securing the content of a band old enough to be most young music fans' grandfathers (and then some) is a sad reflection of the state of the digital music market."

Sure, the music will sell and sell well, but, as Mulligan adds: "That's just further depressing evidence of the old geezer skew of digital music buyers." In its defense, Apple is pursuing innovations, including ongoing efforts to move its music service to the "the cloud." It also recently hired Elliott Peters -- formerly Warner Music Group's senior vice president and head of digital legal affairs -- to twist the industry's arm on the matter. Still, regarding the big Beatles win (!), Milligan says: "The digital music market (and the young music fans that record labels desperately need to get engaged) needs new music products, not yesteryear's hits repackaged."

Read the whole story at Forrester »