Are you waiting for a Windows 8 Metro optimised iTunes version to go with your slick new Windows 8 experience? Unfortunately, you may be waiting for a while as Microsoft suspect Apple have no plans to release iTunes for Windows 8. This come from CNN who heard from Tami Reller, chief financial officer at Microsoft, “you shouldn’t expect an iTunes app on Windows 8 any time soon. iTunes is in high demand. The welcome mat has been laid out. It’s not for lack of trying.”
Of course users can still use iTunes in Windows 8 using the desktop mode, but if you’re using a Surface RT then you wont be able to download iTunes at all, since RT doesn’t run non-microsoft software. Sure iTunes works on Windows 8, but it’s not exactly great, and seems a shame to not take advantage of the metro style design.
However, Tami Reller continued to say that they expect, by the holiday season, Microsoft will support the most popular Apps present in the Apple Store in its own App Store. With over 60,000 apps available and around 250 million downloads, the Windows Phone 8 Store is slowly building up its portfolio.
Whilst Apple has a long history of offering its products on the Windows platform, such as iTunes, Safari, and Quicktime, their sheer marketing strategy would dictate not porting the products to a tablet interface to avoid direct competition with the iPad. If you had the choice of an iPad or a tablet-optimised version of the full iTunes client, which would you choose?
But this is just one opinion. It would be interesting to hear what you think – will iTunes ever be optimised for Windows 8 RT and the metro interface, or are Apple keeping the software loosely supported to drive their own tablet lineup. Let us know in the comments section below.
[Source CNET]