WWDC 2019: Apple’s iTunes set to retire after almost two decades

Apple may finally pull the plug on its 18-year-old iTunes service. Ahead of the company's annual developer conference, WWDC 2019, Apple has already signaled phasing out the platform.

Apple has wiped all social media content including photos, videos and posts from the official Facebook page for iTunes. Macrumours reports that Apple has migrated the page to the new Apple TV page on Facebook. Apple has done the same on Instagram where it is redirecting users to Instagram account. The company is also redirecting visitors to itunes.apple.com to music.apple.com.

Launched in 2001, iTunes is one of the oldest Apple services. Since then it has been the go-to platform to listen to music, podcasts and even watch movies and TV shows. The service also allowed users to manage their Apple devices.

"Apple has done what Apple does best — make complex applications easy, and make them even more powerful in the process," Steve Jobs, then Apple's CEO had said in a press release in 2001. "iTunes is miles ahead of every other jukebox application, and we hope its dramatically simpler user interface will bring even more people into the digital music revolution."

Going forward,

Apple has already begun its efforts to transition from a hardware company to a services company. Earlier this year, it launched Apple TV+, Apple News Plus and Apple Arcade services that focus on increasing user engagement on the iOS platform.

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The iTunes phase out is believed to be Apple's efforts to streamline apps on its hardware platforms. The iTunes is set to be replaced by a trio of new applications for Macs - Music, TV, and Podcasts. According to reports, Apple will allow users to manage their devices through a separate Music application.

Apple's WWDC 2019 developer conference is scheduled to begin on June 3 in San Jose, California. Apart from iTunes replacement, Apple is expected to unveil new services and updates to the existing ones.