Apple Is Building the ‘Next-Generation’ of Its Media Apps for Windows

Apple seems to be working on new media apps for Windows. The company released iTunes on the Microsoft Store back in 2018, but with the company killing the iTunes app on macOS, it may not be a while till it kills the Windows counterpart, too.

But here’s the thing: Apple could actually be working on new media apps for Windows. Neowin noticed a new job listing at Apple for a Senior Software Engineer to work on its “next-generation” of media apps for Windows, and it seems very interesting.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

[ad unit=’in_content_premium_block’]

The job listing says that “experience with UWP is a big plus” which suggests the upcoming media apps for Windows from Apple could be built on UWP, and thus work on both Windows 10 and the Xbox One. And that’s the important part: Apple’s new video streaming service Apple TV+ doesn’t officially support the Xbox One, so the company is hard at work to address that problem.

Building a new Apple TV app for Windows 10 could allow the company to reach both Windows 10 and Xbox One users, and compete better with Netflix, which has apps for both the platforms. And more importantly, Apple Music could also get a new app on Windows as part of Apple’s plan to make the next-generation of its media apps for Windows.

Apple has put a lot of focus on its services lately, and its also opening up its services to third-party devices, instead of just limiting them to its own hardware. The move is something that still needs a lot of work, and Apple looking to build next-generation media apps for Windows could be a sign that the company isn’t done yet.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 14 comments

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    19 November, 2019 - 7:44 pm

    <p>Bummer that this is just a job posting though. That means it'll be months before it comes out.</p>

    • Aurand

      Premium Member
      19 November, 2019 - 8:07 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#490423">In reply to lvthunder:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Months? That seems optimistic…</p>

  • maktaba

    19 November, 2019 - 8:00 pm

    <p>Too late. Microsoft has already abandoned UWP.</p>

    • rm

      20 November, 2019 - 9:01 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#490425">In reply to Maktaba:</a></em></blockquote><p>No it definitely has not. It is just allowing prior applications to make use of the new UWP stuff. Xbox, Neo, HoloLens, and Hub are all examples of Windows devices that require UWP.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      20 November, 2019 - 11:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#490425">In reply to Maktaba:</a></em></blockquote><p>UWP is just one part of the development picture, not the future of it.</p>

  • RobertJasiek

    20 November, 2019 - 1:21 am

    <p>Hoping… that iTunes for Windows</p><ul><li>is restricted to iDevice backup and local file transfer via both USB or WLAN while all bloatware media stuff is moved to separate applications,</li><li>local file transfer is for all file types and always offers an "apply to all" option available by one click,</li><li>replaces Apple's Windows services (iPod service, service Bonjour, Apple Mobile Device Service, related autostart entries) by one Windows system driver, as it ought to be,</li><li>does not communicate with Apple servers without asking,</li><li>gets a plain and simple GUI.</li></ul>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      20 November, 2019 - 11:27 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#490440">In reply to RobertJasiek:</a></em></blockquote><p>It won’t be iTunes. It’s going to be Apple Music, TV, and News. Any device sync will be a separate application. </p><p><br></p><p>On Macintosh, device sync is now in Finder and the separate apps exist. I don’t see them deviating from that.</p>

  • codymesh

    20 November, 2019 - 1:43 am

    <p>I don't have high hopes for this. Developers don't seem to care about making good apps on the desktop anymore. Every app is some non-native rubbish with poor performance, excessive memory consumption, and choppy interface. Really, really tired of it.</p><p><br></p><p>If Apple made a smooth, slick, UWP app for their music service, it would definitely be in stark contrast to whatever in tarnation the Spotify app is and the non-existent apps from the other players. It would also really shut up a lot of the people who think Win32 is gospel </p>

    • Greg Green

      20 November, 2019 - 8:05 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#490442">In reply to codymesh:</a></em></blockquote><p>It really does seem that there been a broad decline in software development among major companies. It’s as if the makers don’t use their own products.</p>

  • jchampeau

    Premium Member
    20 November, 2019 - 8:35 am

    <p>The headline states that Apple <strong>is</strong> doing this, but the article says they "seem to be" and "could" be. At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I really wish care would be taken in choosing words and avoiding conflicts between headlines and the articles they accompany.</p>

  • rm

    20 November, 2019 - 2:06 pm

    <p>I wonder . . . will history repeat itself? Apple created the iTunes program for Windows, this was the buggies, security filled swiss cheese of Windows and let tons of viruses and malware into Windows. Then Apple created "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercial series in which it said how there was a lot of malware on Windows, so buy a Mac. To be fair Flash, Java client, and ActiveX also contributed about as many viruses/malware. But the difference is, iTunes was just a program that had that many issues!</p><p><br></p><p>I don't think I will ever install Apple crapware on my Windows devices period!</p>

  • dontbeevil

    21 November, 2019 - 12:43 am

    <p>dead is UWP /s</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC