Apple releases new Apple TV app – and moves away even further from ‘iTunes’ branding

Demise of the brand that helped build Apple has been ongoing for years

(Getty Images)

Apple has redesigned its Apple TV app – and seemingly taken another step away from the ‘iTunes’ branding that arguably helped build the company as it is today.

The new app is intended to be both a way to watch films and TV on Apple’s own TV+ streaming service, but also to bring together content from other platforms, such as Disney+.

It includes a new redesigned sidebar that groups together different content. The changes are part of Apple’s apparent mission to make the app a way of uniting different services and sources into one interface.

Notably, however, the new TV app on Apple TV now also includes the option to buy movies and TV shows from Apple. Until now, the Apple TV had included their own iTunes Store app.

Opening up that app will now send people into the Apple TV app’s store instead, seemingly leaving the iTunes Store app defunct.

First introduced in 2001, iTunes in many ways helped build the modern Apple, and changed the way that people consume music online. Early versions of the software let people buy songs over the internet, burn them to CDs – and notably put their music onto the iPod.

In recent years, however, it came to be criticised for having become bloated, with too many features and slow performance. Its demise appeared to begin in 2019, when iTunes was broken into separate Music, Podcasts and TV apps.

Amid those changes, however, Apple has continued to offer the iTunes Store, which remains the main place that keeps the iTunes branding. Even after the new changes, the iTunes Store will continue to exist, allowing people to buy music if they do not wish to stream it through Apple Music.