Apple Said To Prepare ITunes Changes To Improve Sharing
Apple Inc. (AAPL) plans an overhaul of iTunes that would mark one of the largest changes to the world's biggest music store since its 2003 debut, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Context & Ripple Effects
Bloomberg's report lands three months after AppleInsider first flagged that Apple was preparing an overhaul of its online store, and it sharpens the picture: the redesign is aimed at improving sharing and would be the largest change to iTunes since the store debuted in 2003. The pickup across eight outlets — The Verge, CNET, MacRumors, 9to5Mac and others — shows how much attention any iTunes move commands while the store remains the world's biggest music retailer.
The sharing emphasis also connects backward to Apple's earlier label negotiations: Bloomberg reported in March 2011 that Apple was negotiating unlimited usage of music downloads with rights holders, a deal structure that would be a natural foundation for any sharing-focused redesign. Apple last reworked the storefront with the 2009 changes to the iTunes Store, so a rebuild of this scale would touch a product that has been largely stable for years.
First-order effects
- iTunes users face the biggest interface and feature reset in the store's history, with sharing promoted from an afterthought to a core design goal — though the report is sourced, not confirmed by Apple.
- Music rights holders become the immediate counterparties: any sharing feature that loosens the one-buyer-one-copy model of the store requires new license terms of the kind Apple was reportedly pursuing in its 2011 unlimited-usage talks.
Second-order effects
- If sharing becomes central to iTunes, rival digital music services are pushed to match social and shared-access features or cede ground on the discovery layer where listening habits form.
- A rebuilt iTunes sets the template for how Apple presents all its media — music, video, apps — through one storefront, raising the stakes for every content partner whose placement in that store drives sales.
Third-order effects
- A shift from owning files toward sharing access points the largest download store toward consumption models built on licenses rather than purchases — a structural turn for an industry whose economics were built around per-track sales.
- Because iTunes doubles as the gateway to iOS devices, any redesign also reshapes the storefront through which hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad owners encounter paid media, giving Apple even more gatekeeper leverage over content distributors.
The trend: Digital music retail is moving from per-track ownership toward shared, access-based consumption, with the world's largest store being redesigned to follow.