Apple shows off their new strategy for selling low priced music files via the iPhone cellphone and the new iPod Touch. Both the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch come with WiFi hardware built-in. This hardware specifically allows both the iPhone and iPod Touch to access the Internet at a much higher rate than just connecting with the cellular modem.
Apple has joined with T-Mobile to use the wireless hotspot network in Starbucks to sell music through their system. There are currently just a few participating Starbucks around the country. Visit Apple’s website to see which states they are in. Apple states that by October 2nd, of 2007 there will be more than 600 Starbucks cooperating.
A question most people ask is if the song purchased on the iPhone or iPod Touch will sync back the songs to the main computer. Good news is that the songs will sync back to the computer, which is not a normal function of the iTunes syncing software. A nice feature of the wireless iTunes store is that if a user of the iPhone cellphone or iPod Touch downloads a portion of a song, once connected to the main Mac or PC, iTunes will finish the download. And just like on the normal iTunes store, users can listen to a 30-second preview of the song before purchase.
This is a great start for Apple in expanding the iTunes online store. Users are already waiting for movie, music videos and podcast downloads. Apple will need to also release the iTunes store for users of the iPhone while using the AT&T wireless cellular connection. This would obviously work best on a 3G iPhone. Apple has quite possibly created the killer app for both the iPhone cellphone and iPod Touch.