Apple won Billboard’s 2004 Digital Entertainment Award for Brand of the Year, while CEO Steve Jobs was named Visionary of the Year. Apple’s iTunes Music Store lost out to Real Networks’ Rhapsody for Best Downloadable or Subscription Music Service, however, and Apple was also edged out by XM Satellite Radio for Innovator of the Year.
As Brand of the Year, Apple overshadowed finalists EA Sports, Virgin Mobile, and XM Satellite Radio. Jobs, meanwhile, one-upped Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Chairman of HDNet, Rob Glaser, Chairman & CEO of Real Networks, and Will Wright, designer of SimCity and The Sims.
The Mac Observer Spin:
Short of wanting to diversify its awards this year, it’s a bit difficult to understand Billboard’s selection of Rhapsody as Best Music Service, given how much iTunes dwarfs it, the impact iTunes had on the entire marketplace, and the praise Apple has already garnered (we’ll ignore iPod compatibility, which is a bit of a cheap shot). More understandable is XM Satellite Radio’s win as Innovator of the Year. Of surprising note, Bram Cohen, who developed BitTorrent, was also nominated for Innovator of the Year, despite the fact that his file distribution protocol is heavily used for illicit file sharing. Billboard deserves kudos just for seeing past the automatically-negative image the media likes portray such technologies.