Some things are just never going to happen. Some things are just highly unlikely. With Steve Jobs around it was unthinkable for Apple to bring the iTunes Store to Google’s Android mobile platform, but in a post-Steve Jobs world, it’s looking increasingly possible that those packing non-Apple hardware could be able to buy songs from iTunes.
According Billboard, that claim to be in the know about such things, Apple is considering making the iTunes Store available on Android devices in a similar way to how iTunes was brought to Windows. Apple knows that more iTunes users means more iTunes customers, and with digital music sales declining in the face of stiff competition from streaming services like Spotify, Apple may see Android as a way of halting that decline.
Of course, Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs famously said that he didn’t want to bring iTunes to Android because he didn’t want to ‘make Android users happy.’
We thought about whether we should do a music client for Android. We put iTunes on Windows in order to sell more iPods. But I don’t see an advantage of putting our own music app on Android, except to make Android users happy. And I don’t want to make Android users happy.
Current CEO Tim Cook has gone on record to say that his company has no ‘religious issue’ with bringing its iOS apps to Android if it was deemed to be in the company’s interest. It sounds increasingly likely that his words carried a little more weight than we first thought.
On the subject of falling sales, reports also suggest that Apple is in talks with music labels about starting up its own on-demand streaming service. Spotify, Rdio and Beats Music currently have that market sewn up, but a company such as Apple has the ability to blow that wide open, even if Google’s own offering hasn’t managed it thus far.
If Apple is serious about bringing iTunes to Android, then it may only be a matter of time before we see a Windows Phone version to go along with it. We wouldn’t dare suggest that either are inevitable, but it sure would make sense for all concerned.
After all, money talks.
(Source: Billboard) (via: 9to5Mac)
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