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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  iTunes Store ahoy!
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iTunes Store ahoy!

Even a proven digital platform such as the iTunes Store needs to be approached with some scepticism

Contrary to many expectations, the iTunes Store in India features local content at a competitive local price. Premium
Contrary to many expectations, the iTunes Store in India features local content at a competitive local price.

On Tuesday, Apple announced that it was rolling out the iTunes Store content retailing platform across 56 additional countries, including India. Now users of Apple devices in India have access to the same low-friction, content-buying and renting services that helped to fundamentally disrupt the way music was bought and sold in the US.

It is easy to overestimate the importance of such digital delivery platforms in a market such as India that continues to confound digital business models.

From news to mp3 files of Hindi film music, content producers have struggled to actually get people to pay for any content—especially when it is not tied down to a legacy delivery platform such as a newspaper or a multiplex.

Therefore it is best to approach the prospects of even a proven platform such as the iTunes Store with some scepticism. After all, the products sold on the iTunes Store—music, films, books—are some of India’s most widely pirated.

What could slightly tip things in favour of Apple is the pricing.

Contrary to many expectations, the iTunes Store in India features local content at a competitive local price. Movies cost less than 100 to stream in standard definition. Single music tracks are on sale for less than 20.

It is perhaps on price, and device independence, that local competitors will face off against iTunes. Which usually means good news for customers, in the short term, till all the providers run out of cash.

However, it will be interesting to see how the platforms themselves change. With iTunes here, can Netflix, Pandora and the other streaming content brands be far behind? If so, will a DTH TV provider such as Tata-Sky or Dish be better off selling satellite signals or Internet connections? Or a mix of both? And if the culture of deferred viewing takes off, what happens to TV advertising?

Apple has a history of putting the cat among the pigeons. And now the cat prowls in India.

Is India ready for digital business models? Tell us at views@livemint.com

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Published: 06 Dec 2012, 07:48 PM IST
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