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the app store application on an iOS device asks for your password when you make purchases, this information is not stored (it is, however cached in memory for a short period of time). given iOS's jailing of applications run space both on disk and in memory, it would be very difficult to steal that information out of cached RAM (and i doubt it's even stored as a password as opposed to a hash).
desktop itunes works in a similar manner, so again, trying to hack a saved password out of itunes is unlikely.
what is most likely is that the users simply had weak passwords. itunes does not require any particular strength in a password. so if you know a list of usernames you can simply spend some time attempting to hack passwords. or perhaps they were phished like so much other account information is these days, or keylogged by a virus, we will never know. and no company goes about giving detailed information on their hacked accounts, so apple is not doing anything unusual in keeping that information private.
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