Apple’s often ignored Apple Store app for iOS will get an update this coming Tuesday, with Apple’s current push on trying to get people to buy its hardware from its own stores apparently the crux of the update. Links to content on Apple’s app and book stores will also be front and center, according to 9to5Mac’s report.
The update offers a minor visual redesign, but the biggest update is that the new Apple Store app will feature tie-ins with Apple’s other iOS stores like the App Store, iTunes and iBookstore. These tie-ins will offer normally paid-for content for free, according to a source familiar with what the new Apple Store app will entail.
Apple obviously believes that offering free content will server as a gateway drug, getting new users interested in the other, preferably paid-for content that Apple currently offers via the iOS ecosystem. Of course, the only sticking point there is that almost nobody realizes that there is an Apple Store app available in the first place. In fact, the number sits at just 20% of iOS users, according to the report.
In order to rectify this, Apple’s in-store employees are being encouraged to install the Apple Store app on all new iOS devices that are sold, which would obviously give the app a push when it comes to awareness, if not usage numbers. Apple is stopping short of installing the app on all devices shipped, however.
Apple’s focus on getting shoppers to buy products directly from its own stores rather than resellers is part of an initiative kicked off by CEO Tim Cook at last month’s Retail Leadership summit and is sure to have an effect on other things throughout the company’s business and will no doubt prove disappointing to its current retailing partners.
The new update to the Apple Store app for iOS will apparently begin hitting the App Store this coming Tuesday, and whilst we do find ourselves struggling to get too excited, we’re sure someone somewhere will be!
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