Apple Music is being expanded to 52 additional countries and territories in a push to broaden service revenue streams for the iPhone maker, the company said yesterday.
The move brings Apple Music to a total of 167 markets, including 25 new African countries added yesterday.
Costs are to range from as low as US$3 to US$11 monthly, with a six-month free trial period in the new countries.
Photo: AFP / Apple
The expansion ramps up the global presence of Apple Music, which has some 60 million subscribers, in its duel against market leader Spotify Technology SA, which has more than 120 million paid users, but is available in fewer markets around the world.
Apple Inc at the same time announced an expansion to 20 new markets of its other services, including its App Store, the Apple Arcade gaming service, Apple Podcasts and iCloud.
With the rollout, Apple services will be available in 175 countries.
Until now, Apple customers in parts of the world had access to some free apps and services for their devices without an opportunity for paid subscriptions.
Music and other services will be available with interfaces in at least 40 languages supported by Apple.
Meanwhile, Apple’s iCloud and other services are being expanded to eight more African countries, two in the Asia-Pacific region, five in Europe, two in the Middle East and three in Oceania.
Apple has been working for some time on the expansion, but the move comes as consumers around the world are facing lockdowns and spending more time on their devices.
Apple Music holds about 19 percent of the global music streaming market, compared with 35 percent for Spotify and 15 percent for Amazon.com Inc, Counterpoint Research said.
The streaming music service has about 60 million songs and offers curated playlists along with a Beats 1 radio station.
Apple Podcasts has more than 1 million shows in more than 100 languages. The Arcade gaming service launched last year includes ad-free original titles designed for Apple devices.
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