As iPhone sales skate, Apple ends ITunes, which will be replaced by three separate applications. We explain to you.
End of an era: Apple has announced Monday the end of iTunes , its famous multimedia software, a logical consequence of its choice to focus on its more fluid and more modern applications, Apple Music or Apple TV, focused on streaming.
As iPhone sales skate, the firm has confirmed its commitment to bet on its other products, services and applications, Monday at its annual conference Apple developers in California.
The US group has also announced new features designed to better protect the personal data of its customers.
“The future of iTunes is not an app but three”: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV, said Monday Craig Federighi, head of “software” of the US firm.
On Mac computers, the software “is replaced by three new apps,” said Apple in a statement, noting that these changes will occur with the new operating system in the fall.
On the other hand, Apple did not announce the disappearance of iTunes on PC.
Predictable
This end, which marks for many users the end of an era, was predictable: iTunes software remained little more than on Macs while iPhone or iPad already had applications Music, Podcasts and TV.
Unveiled in 2001, iTunes allowed to read songs then movies, series, podcasts and to classify its pieces by creating playlists and to burn CDs, then to synchronize from its computer the contents on the different mobile devices of the brand to the Apple.
His online store iTunes Store, open two years later, to buy and download songs and also to rent or buy movies or series.
An innovative model but made partly obsolete today by the triumph of subscription-based streaming, in which Apple finally got going too.
The US group has nevertheless said that the iTunes Music Store will remain available on Mac, even if the multi-function software “all-in-one” iTunes disappears.
“Customers will also have the ability to sync (update, restore, etc …) their Apple mobile devices through applications that replace iTunes.”
A complete facelift for Apple TV
Since 2015, Apple Music has been offering unlimited streaming music access via a monthly subscription, based on the Spotify model.
You can also read his tracks already downloaded or copied from a good old CD and appearing in his personal library.
The mp3 player iPod (also launched in 2001) and the iTunes Store have powerfully shaken the world of music by popularizing the legal download, at a time when many sites could recover movies and songs without paying a dime.
Apple recently announced the complete facelift of Apple TV, which will propose in a few months a subscription to video streaming, with original content, in addition to purchases and rentals by the piece.
Determined to bet on the “apps”, Apple has also announced the arrival of its online store App Store in its connected watch Apple Watch and in its Mac computers that will have bespoke applications.
The App Store is the subject of criticism, Apple being accused of anti-competitive practices, because of the number of royalties required on transactions via applications or because Apple users can download “apps” only via the Internet. ‘App Store.
According to press reports on Monday, the US Department of Justice could also look into the matter.
Privacy and data
The group also presented Monday the latest version of its mobile operating system – iOS 13 – including new features designed to preserve the privacy of users.
The group once again became the number one defender of intimacy.
“We believe privacy (protection) is a fundamental human right,” said Federighi.
Apple has planned “even more protections” as a system to connect via its Apple ID to “apps” without using the function “connect with Facebook” or Google and avoid information sharing.
For applications requiring an email address to access their services, Apple will create for example an anonymous email to provide instead. Apple will also limit the tracking of its geolocation by external applications.
