This week, Apple WWDC 2019 kick starts from 3 June onwards and most people expect the company to showcase a host of upcoming software products. But in addition to that, there are rumoured to be some departures as well.
We’ve already heard about iOS 13 not supporting iPhone 5, 5s and even 6 this year, and adding to that, you’ve got Apple bringing the curtains down on iTunes with future MacOS updates. iTunes has been the go-to bridge between Apple devices and linking it with a PC, for transferring data.
For Apple users, this was the platform, equivalent of Windows File Explorer for Microsoft, allowing them to search for files, photos, videos and even audio files.
The news of iTunes closing down was first mentioned by MacRumors few weeks ago, and this week, it has claimed that Apple has removed all the mention of iTunes from its Facebook page and even Twitter handle. After checking this ourselves, we found that searching iTunes shows us Apple TV on Facebook, and for audio, users might have to be content with Apple Music.
iTunes has also been the platform to rent/buy movies, which were once exclusively available there.
Ditching iTunes in favour of multiple platforms is Apple’s latest effort to increase its revenue in services, which has kind of slowed down because of falling demand for iPhones across the globe.
Replacing iTunes with Music, Apple TV and something for Books allows Apple to charge its users separately for these products, making it a win-win for the company, not so much for the users though.
They’ve also got Apple TV+ coming later this year, which is also going to compete with other established giants like Netflix and Amazon Video among others. As for iTunes, Apple’s decision to discontinue it has to be borne by the other incoming platforms, and hopefully users will find it as convenient as iTunes was.
We’ll know more about iTunes winding up, and whether iPhone 5S will get iOS 13 from the Apple WWDC 2019 keynote on 3 June, and you can stay tuned to The Quint live blog for all the updates from the event later on Monday evening.
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