It looks like Apple is finally stepping up its game in India. The smartphone giant announced the launch of iTunes Store in 56 countries which includes India along with Russia, Turkey,South Africa and others. This decision is expected to double the market for Apple iTunes Store and probably cause a spurt in music sales. The highlight of the moment however, is the fact that a select few countries like India, Indonesia, Russia , Turkey have been chosen to support movie and video purchases.
Apple has stated that this release will accompany music and media, not only from international and American artists, but also local ones. To quote from the release announcement, “The iTunes Store features local artists including Elka in Russia, Sezen Aksu in Turkey, AR Rahman in India, and Zahara in South Africa, international artists including The Beatles, Taylor Swift and Coldplay, and world-renowned classical musicians including Lang Lang, Yo Yo Ma and Yuja Wang.” The pricing in India varies from Rs. 7-15 per song and around Rs. 70-100 for the whole album. But, TV Shows have not been uploaded to the store yet. Another service known as iTunes Match has also been launched in the country which will allow users to store music from third party sources in iCloud and costs Rs. 1200 possibly.
All these Apple services are expected to meet already existing fierce competition from domestic online vendors such as Flipkart which has been trying to establish itself into the online digital media business with products like the Flyte Music and eBook store. The biggest problem being reiterated time and again seems to be the fact that piracy is a big problem in India and this should make sales of original content much more difficult. Another glaring fact is that the number of Apple devices is seriously limited in the current scenario.
For more details, go ahead and check out the iTunes store for yourself.
