Apple Plans to Kill iTunes (Report)

Tech giant will announce end of 18-year-old product next week, Bloomberg reports

The end of an era may be coming for Apple’s customers as the company plans to retire iTunes after 18 years, Bloomberg reported Friday.

According to Bloomberg, Apple will announce the move next week during the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose. The paper reports that iTunes’ one-stop shop for music, TV and podcast content will be replaced with three new apps specific to each category. That would bring desktop users in line with Apple’s mobile strategy — iPad and iPhone users already make use of separate apps for music, TV and podcasts.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The report comes just days after Apple was accused of “intentionally and unlawfully” selling its users’ iTunes habits and other data in a lawsuit filed in California. The civil suit says the data includes user names, home addresses and music preferences that were sold to third parties without consent.

And on May 13, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an antitrust case against Apple can proceed, after the plaintiffs argued the tech giant’s “monopoly power” over the App Store allows it to unfairly drive up app prices.

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