In a move that will surely keep the Mac and iPhone maker on top of the digital music and software application industry, Apple is preparing its first iTunes Store redesign in nearly three years. In late 2009, Apple launched a new iTunes Store that traded in a blue-themed, convoluted store for a much simpler, white-themed store that provides a great focus on the store’s downloadable content.
The redesign of the iTunes Store that runs on both the iTunes application for the Mac and the PC is a top priority for Apple. The work on the redesign comes soon after the launch of new services in the United States such as the Spotify music streaming service and the growing popularity of Amazon’s online music store. Apple dominates the majority of the digital music market, and it will continue to bet on an in-application download store and not an online store found only in a web browser.
The new design is said to be even simpler and more user-friendly than the current design. Apple is working on ways to enhance the speed and efficiency of finding new content, such as songs, videos, and applications. The cornerstone element of Apple’s new iTunes Store is interactivity. As Apple vaguely explained to a number of music labels and entertainment partners, Apple is looking to make the iTunes Store a much more engaging experience.
While the iTunes App Store is an incredibly and unprecedentedly popular service, many users have complained about how difficult it sometimes is to find new and exciting software for their iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. Apple is likely working on a more interactive way of locating iOS device software to solve these concerns. The interactivity that Apple wants within the digital store is something Apple could only likely pull off by housing the store within a full-fledged application, not a pure web browser experience.
Current iTunes Store
It is unknown whether this new iTunes Store will launch alongside an entirely new version of the iTunes application for Mac and PC. iTunes 9 brought the current iTunes Store design with it, but Apple could theoretically launch the 2012 store redesign within a small iTunes 10-point update. The new iTunes Store interactivity features are said to be for the iTunes Music, Movies, TV Show, and App Store sections, but may very well spread to the iBookstore.
The iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore experiences on the iPad mostly mirror the experience of these stores on the Mac, so we will likely see major updates to the iOS versions of Apple’s multimedia stores in the future as well. These iOS device enhancements will likely not launch simultaneously with the Mac and PC iTunes Store changes. Apple is developing the new iTunes Store alongside OS X Mountain Lion, so we may get our first glimpse of the new iTunes Store this summer. A launch this fall—the season that Apple historically rolls out new music products— seems more likely, though.
