Funnily enough, the evolution of the iPod, into the iPhone seems to have been seamless, and a lot of the time we forget that this music player from Apple has been almost dictatorially managed. Probably the most exploited loophole over the years has been the inability of iTunes to tell the difference between a ripped CD and an original CD, actually purchased. The  evolution of the internet and online services, have actually circumvented a lot of those problems, by that I mean if you utilise the online service that Apple provide via iTunes, your music is licensed and non transferable. Once purchased though, it’s always there, just like a CD (well almost, compact discs do deteriorate over time). As Doug noted in the last of his series in his iPod Touch review

In addition to storing your music, however, iTunes is also a full media store, with thousands of songs, movies, TV shows, and more.  In fact, I found this store to be a little too integrated with iTunes.  It was all too easy to slip from the parts of iTunes which display media you already own, to the store where you have to pay to download media.

Now the advancement of the iPod to the iPhone, and I’ll include the Touch in that to save confusion, and the introduction of iPhone 2.0., the iPhone people love to hate, after they’ve gotten over the new device fascination, has led to the inclusion of the App store in iTunes. the iPod has grown up, obviously, and Apple has added access to the programs, that the now adult iPod “handheld computer” has become. So it’s a business model that works and other OS providers are trying to go there, namely Google/Android and now Microsoft. It seems that some other, not inconsequential software developers have taken note of the iTunes model, and are going down the App store track no matter what they want to call it.

Google/Android, with the release of the first Android device imminent, you will have to find relevant software, to make your new device a mobile helper.

For WM devices, you might want to take hope, because MicroSoft is also launching some sort of online store, but the interesting thing, is that they hint at Windows Mobile 7,

you can sell me that !

Apparently the Apple model is worth emulating???????????

Related posts:

1. Apple Pulls Developer with 900+ Apps from the iTunes App Store for Licensing Concerns
2. Microsoft App Store, Online.
3. Another on the Bandwagon: Palm Apps Store
4. iTunes App Store: How Did Those Apps Get There Anyway
5. Link Love: JAiB Reports on Snapture Coming to the iTunes App Store