AppleInsider Staff
Update: Apple released an official announcement saying that iTunes has launched in 12 more countries in Asia, and besides the Philippines and Singapore, customers in Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam can now access paid music, movies and books.
AppleInsider readers noted on Tuesday that they were able to access the Apple iTunes store in both the Philippines and Singapore after it was suggested in a March report that the service was on the verge of being launched in a number of Asian countries.
While purchases cannot yet be made, users can browse music, movies and books in the two countries' storefronts. The Philippines iTunes store features a dedicated section for "Original Pinoy Music" while the Singapore landing page offers popular songs from China, Thailand and America.
When the stores go live, they will join the 12 locations added in December and will continue Apple's worldwide expansion of the digital media distribution service. It was reported in September 2011 that all major EU states had joined the iTunes fold after eight years of waiting, though licensing disputes and marketplace fragmentation have hindered efforts to open a pan-European store.
Apple Philippines iTunes store features locally-made music. | Source: Apple
Apple's official iTunes Support Page does not yet advertise the availability of for-purchase media in either the Philippines or Singapore.
Christine McKee
Thomas Sibilly
Marko Zivkovic
2 Comments
Wow! Sri Lanka gets the iTunes store, but India is still left behind. Must be some buracratic nightmare getting this done in India.
I still buy e-books from Amazon at the moment.
that's good news to Filipinos... They're really nice people... when I was there, some of their singers are promoting their songs... it'll also be a good idea if some of their albums will be available for Tap Tap Revenge... well, i know that that is something really hard to wish for....