Apple has launched a new iTunes store available in India. The iTunes India store has a lot of India centric content and more importantly the pricing is affordable.
The new iTunes store, has been launched in 56 counties which includes India. While Flipkart also has introduced DRM-free MP3 music files, iTunes has gone a step further. Users can download movies in HD formats and the pricing again is a big incentive.
Movies can typically be rented or bought outright. For instance one of the latest Hindi movie was priced at INR 120 for renting and could be bought for INR. 420. The SD versions available are a lot cheaper.
Rented movies typically allow users 30 days to watch the movie, while once you start watching the movie, it has to be finished within 48 hours.
The music seemed to be typically prices around INR 20 but some international songs were available for over INR 100.
Apple atleast at the moment of writing this post, has not declared any tie-up with major Indian film studios and music companies but looking at the the listing of content available, I won’t be surprised with Apple having some sort of tie-ups in India.
Future of iTunes India Store
Even though the sale of iPhones is not as high as other countries particularly because of their high price, iPod are actually sold in pretty strong numbers. Also considering India’s movie and music industry is huge, the iTunes India specific store could actually end up being a pretty big deal.
Flipkart, whose Flyte store which is now selling e-books and music might have some worrying to do but honestly their app is cross-platform.