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S’pore to get Apple’s iTunes Music Store...finally

Strait Times
By Grace Chng
Deputy News Editor

SAN FRANCISCO - APPLE Computer has news that will be music to the ears of iPod owners in Singapore. The company plans to open an iTunes Music Store here by the end of next year, a reliable source told The Straits Times.

More than 850 million songs have been sold through Apple’s online music stores since the first one was launched in the United States 2 1/2 years ago. But while the stores have spread to more than 20 countries, including Australia, Luxembourg and Japan, they have not made their way here yet. Currently, only those with credit card billing addresses in the countries
with the stores can access them.

Opening a Singapore store will allow iPod users here to buy the more than two million songs available, which cost 99 US cents, or about S$1.60, each.

Songs are downloaded over the Internet onto a user’s computer before being transferred to their iPods. Users can buy single songs, or entire albums.

Also on the cards for Singapore: an Apple Store, a retail outlet opened and managed by the iconic computer company. These stores, which are separate from Apple resellers, are known for their cutting-edge architectural design and so-called Genius Bars - customer service centres manned by Apple experts who can help buyers with any problems they may have.

Apple’s move to open an iTunes Music Store here comes hot on the heels of blistering sales of iPods. Last year, 40 million people worldwide bought iPods. Although, Apple does not release unit sales in specific markets, it is understood that the iPod market in Singapore grew in the triple-digit per cent range .

Expansion might have been faster if the iTunes Music Store had been available in Singapore, as it enables people to choose songs they want to buy and listen to, rather than purchase whole albums, as they have to with CDs.