It has been reported today that Apple makes iTunes Store launched in Russian and several other markets, and it comes to light that the company has made two key moves and has launched it in Indonesia and India as well. This move makes it hit a total collective possible target market of approx 1.4 billion which is most likely the widest expansion done to date.
Subsequently Apple has announced iTunes Store in 56 other countries as well which makes it a total of 119. The movie or video content has been made available in Turkey, Russia, Indonesia and India.
Back in June 2012, iTunes Store was launched in 12 different Asian markets, which included Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong but India and Indonesia were even then prominently absent, despite a huge audience. Now, Apple has locked down the prospects in these markets, where the iTunes users will be able to enjoy and get an easy access to a wide range of music and video content, with payment options in their local currencies.
Both of these markets, though are huge, are demanded in the content market as the phantom of piracy is out of control. These countries are considerably globally hugely imperative Internet markets; are rated as Facebook’s top 5, however; Smartphone is the foremost enabler as fixed-line Internet access is quite low that is 10% in India, and less than 20% in Indonesia.
These markets certainly offer a huge potential, especially on mobile, different apps like WeChat et al, KakaoTalk, Line, and WhatsApp, but now Apple is all set to assemble a local content network, which happens to be a key initiative to local Web users abstaining from piracy, which makes users have a superior entertainment experience.
The benefits can be experienced by several content companies which, on paper are rivals to the iTunes like the music streaming service Saavn, Dhingana or Hulu in India; Since Apple’s launch of iTunes will be useful in brining new emphasis and visibility to multimedia content and legal entertainment.
It has been stated by Tim Cook, CEO Apple, that India’s ‘multilayer distribution’ approach along with the Apple’s comparatively low market share would see it highlighted other major regions that are ahead of India. On the other hand, the initiative has been taken, and Apple fans in India are extremely close to sense the Apple charisma there.