iTunes Store is a digital marketplace selling music, music videos, ringtones and alert tones. It was launched by Apple Inc. on April 28, 2003 for macOS, and on October 16, 2003 for Microsoft Windows. It launched as a mobile application with iOS on June 29, 2007.[1]
It previously sold mobile applications until the launch of the App Store on July 10, 2008, and e-books until the launch of the iBooks Store on March 31, 2010.[2] It also used to facilitate the downloading of podcasts which later became integrated into Apple Podcasts, as well as the provision to buy and rent films and TV shows which has since become integrated into Apple TV.[3]
The iTunes Store opened as part of then-CEO Steve Jobs‘ push to open a digital marketplace for music. When it launched, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to offer songs from all five major record labels, which played a part in its success and influenced the music downloading business.[4] Music streaming services began to overtake music downloading, with Apple launching Apple Music on June 30, 2015.[5]
History
Steve Jobs saw the opportunity to open a digital marketplace for music due to the rising popularity of easily downloadable tracks.[6][7][8][9] In 2002, Jobs made an agreement with the five major record labels to offer their content through iTunes.[10] The iTunes Music Store (later iTunes Store) was introduced by Jobs at a special Apple music event in April 2003.[11][12] Music could be purchased in the iTunes application, and purchases were playable in iTunes or on the iPod. The store was initially available to Mac computers,[13] and was later expanded to Microsoft Windows in October 2003 when iTunes for Windows was launched.[14]
In April 2008, the iTunes Store was the largest music vendor in the United States,[15] and in February 2010, it was the largest music vendor in the world.[16] The iTunes Store’s revenues in the first quarter of 2011 totaled nearly US$1.4 billion.[17] By May 28, 2014, the store had sold 35 billion songs worldwide.[18]
In 2016, it was reported that music streaming services had overtaken digital downloads in sales.[19] It was reported that iTunes-style digital download sales had dropped 24% as streaming continued to increase.[20]
In April 2018, the iTunes app was added to the Microsoft Windows 10 app store.[21] Beginning in the spring of 2019, the iTunes app became available on Samsung Smart TVs.[22]
In October 2019, with the release of macOS Catalina, iTunes was split into separate Music, TV, and Podcasts apps. Apple’s storefront for movies and television shows moved inside the TV app. Any music in users’ iTunes library would transfer to the Music app, which would still offer access to the iTunes Store.[23][24]
