Apple just announced one of its biggest regional expansions for the App Store ever
Enlarge / The iPhone 11. (credit: Samuel Axon)
Apple says that Apple Music will now be available in 52 new countries, and other services including App Store, Arcade, Podcasts, and iCloud will hit 20 more countries.
These are the countries and regions that are getting access to services for the first time, according to Apple:The App Store, Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, and iCloud are now available in the following countries and regions:Apple Music is also expanding to the following countries and regions:
- Africa: Cameroon, Cite d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Rwanda, and Zambia
- Asia-Pacific: Maldives and Myanmar
- Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia
- Middle East: Afghanistan (excluding Apple Music) and Iraq
- Oceania: Nauru (excluding Apple Music), Tonga, and Vanuatu
- Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Chad, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Tunisia
- Asia-Pacific: Bhutan
- Europe: Croatia, Iceland, and North Macedonia
- Latin America and the Caribbean: the Bahamas, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos, and Uruguay
- Middle East: Kuwait, Qatar, and Yemen
- Oceania: Solomon Islands
Users in the countries that are getting Apple Music for the first time will be offered a six-month free trial option. Also, Apple will extend its efforts to curate locally relevant playlists to these countries with titles like Africa Now, Afrobeats Hits, and Ghana Bounce.
That brings the total count for the App Store to 175 and Music to 167 out of the 193 United Nations-recognized countries in the world. If you want to see the full count, Apple has a support page that lists which "Apple Media Services" are available in which countries.
Apple made the announcement to the press via its newsroom website and to developers via its developer support portal. Apple maintains a page of resources for developers dedicated to localization efforts, and from what we've heard from developers, the company often makes an effort to prioritize promoting apps that are widely localized because of the global reach of Apple's platforms and services.
And since we're on the topic of developers, here's a side note that also just happened: Apple yesterday sent invitations to members of its developer community inviting them to an online session dedicated to implementing accessibility features in apps. The invite reads:
At Apple, we believe that technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone. Join us for an online event to learn how you can take advantage of the award-winning accessibility features that come standard on Apple devices. You'll be able to ask questions during and after the sessions, and sign up for individual consultations.
The session will take place on Thursday and precedes the company's developer conference-at which it normally offers many sessions like this-in June. The developer conference will be online-only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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