Apple seems all set to kill the iTunes branding with the next major release of macOS. As a report had previously detailed, Apple will be bundling standalone Music, TV, and Podcasts apps in macOS 10.15 which will offer the same set of functionality as iTunes but via separate packages. Now, ahead of WWDC 2019, where Apple is expected to announce this change, the company has silently started killing the iTunes brand online.

It has removed all social media content from iTunes page on Facebook and Instagram. The two profiles are now empty without any content, with Apple migrating the Facebook page followers to its Apple TV page. On Instagram, Apple is now simply directing users to its @AppleTV account instead of iTunes.

Apple has even started redirecting all itunes.apple.com links to music.apple.com which all but confirms that iTunes is going to get axed at WWDC 2019 this week. Up until last month, even App Store links had ‘itunes’ in their URL. Apple is now using URLs depending on the category of the content being shared. For example, the URL for sharing iOS apps is apps.apple.com while that of music is music.apple.com.

apps work with https://t.co/3XE1DJE4Q1 instead of itunes.

— Kyle Seth Gray 🔜 @ WWDC and Layers (@kylesethgray) June 2, 2019

iTunes has been Apple’s digital storefront for almost two decades now. Despite that, the app has been subjected to a fair bit of criticism because of its bloated nature and poor performance. iTunes is still expected to be a part of the next major macOS release despite Apple bundling new standalone apps that offer the same functionality as it. Instead of killing the app and brand in one shot, Apple will likely make it redundant in a phased out manner.

We Want to Hear From You

Are you happy that Apple is replacing iTunes with a new set of apps? Here’s hoping that the new apps are not as bloated and confusing to use as iTunes.

[Via /r/Apple]

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