Apple’s iTunes software ruled the roost for well over a decade on both Mac and PC. In the last couple of years, Apple finally killed off the increasingly-bloated iTunes from macOS, replacing it with distinct apps for Music, TV, Podcasts, and Books.
In this way, the apps mirror what’s available on iPhone and iPad – but PC users still have iTunes as one of only two official Apple apps for the Windows platform. (The other is iCloud). If the reports are true, that might not be the case for much longer.
According to a recent rumor, Apple is preparing to debut a new app (or apps) on the Microsoft store. This stands to reason as Apple was publicly on the lookout for a software engineer last year to work on next-gen media apps for Windows. Our best guess is that Apple will launch – at the very least – Music and TV apps on the Microsoft store, increasing its potential userbase for Apple Music and Apple TV+.
Services have become a huge part of Apple’s business model over the last few years, and Apple has already shown an eagerness to tempt users from outside its own ecosystem to try Music and TV+ in particular. These services are already available on the web and via certain smart TVs, but releasing a first-party app for Windows would be a huge move. The vast majority of computers sold in the world run on Windows, after all.
It does pose the question of what might happen to device management features if iTunes for Windows goes the way of the dodo. On the Mac, you can plug in an iPhone or iPad and access it via Finder, but PC users rely on iTunes to manage their Apple products.
Even if you don’t use any Windows devices, this news could still affect you in a roundabout way – if a wider userbase brings more success to Apple’s subscription platforms, it’s more likely to pump more money back into them. That could mean more and better exclusive content coming our way in the future.