MacComedy

Another 200,000 purchased by Apple CEO Steve Jobs

News of Apple selling one million videos in 20 days was quickly retracted after it was learned Disney CEO Robert Iger downloaded almost 500,000 of those videos while Apple CEO Steve Jobs downloaded another 200,000, meaning only about 300,000 were actually downloaded by the public.

The “iTunes Music Store Sells One Million Videos in Less Than 20 Days” press release was posted on Monday on Apple’s website and taken down by Thursday evening.

Suspicions were initially raised on Wednesday when an iTunes Music Store intern was looking at the download log and discovered “That’s So Raven” was downloaded 157,394 times by “disneyiger”. According to Nielsen Media Research, the average number of viewers watching the Disney Channel show is just under 30,000. And that’s when they’re showing it for free.

The intern posted the logs on his blog, AppleIntern.com, which has since been taken down. MacComedy was unable to contact the intern by deadline, probably due to the fact he’s being held in a bunker somewhere in Cupertino for questioning.

Other odd activity included the video “Pimpin’ All Over the World” by Bobby Valentino and Ludacris being downloaded 57,235 times by “veganlove”, a screen name seen being used by Jobs during one of his Keynote speeches in 2003.

Neither Jobs nor Iger were available for comment.

“It’s an embarrassing mistake for Apple,” said GartnerG2 analyst Mike McGuire. “But that number seemed a little high for such a short period of time. No one wants to watch movies or video content on a two-inch screen. They want to watch it on large, high definition television sets in their living rooms. Or on LCD screens mounted in their cars.”

News of the iTunes scandal has cast a shadow over Apple’s once seemingly bright future. Over the weekend, business web sites were alive with chatter about the beleaguered Apple being doomed for bankruptcy or being purchased by Sony.