There is a place for Apple’s model of downloading and buying videos—children, for example, like to watch the same TV programme many times—but that market is likely to be smaller.

The file they had stumbled upon, the company claimed, contained simply the locations of known WiFi hotspots and cell towers that had been downloaded from Apple.

For instance, instead of purchasing CDs at a store, a consumer may use a cultural industry like Apple's iTunes to download songs or albums for their MP3 player.