After the release of the 3g iPhone, Apple has other stunning news for its fans and not only: the company’s iTunes has sold over 5 billion songs.

Unveiled in 2003 as a virtual store for the iPod owners, iTunes got bigger and bigger and its catalog includes now over 8 million songs as Apple noted in its press release.

However, besides the record of selling 5 bilion songs, Apple unveiled another interesting piece of information about its iTunes.

In the same press release, the Cupertino-based company said that iTunes customers are buying 50,000 movies per day.

Apple has added the movies to its iTunes catalog in September 2006, but due to the lack of initial support from the movies studios, the business was going slowly, compared to the sales of digital music.

However, earlier this year Steve Jobs managed to convince all the major Hollywood studios to join iTunes.

Last month, Apple has announced that it would sell movies through its iTunes on the same day as the titles are released in DVD form.

Studios previously gave DVD releases a head start of as much as 30 to 45 days over other distribution outlets to help preserve a major income source. Earlier this month, Apple has announced that its online media store will add films to its offer for Canadians and Brits.

Apple hopes its iTunes movie business will help it dominate the online movie rental business in the same way it dominates the sale of music tracks and at 50,000 movies sold everyday it seems like Apple is on the right way.

However, it remains to be seen how Apple will compete with established companies like Netflix, Blockbuster and CinemaNow.