Microsoft Store Won't Get iTunes This Year, Disappointing Windows 10 S Users

While some Windows 10 S users were highly anticipating the debut of iTunes for the past some months, it has now been reported that iTunes will not be available in the Microsoft Store this year. The latest move counters the promise of bringing iTunes to Windows Store by the end of 2017 that Microsoft made at its Build conference back in May. The Windows Store has since been rebranded to the Microsoft Store.

An Apple spokesperson confirmed the delay in the process of adding iTunes to the Microsoft Store, which was transformed from Windows Store in October. "We have been working with Microsoft to deliver the full iTunes experience to our customers, and we need a little more time to get it right," the spokesperson said in a statement to ZDNet. Notably, the statement points to the ongoing development of enabling iTunes and confirms that there aren't any plans to scrap the original decision. The cause of the delay is, however, not clear.

Importantly, the Microsoft Store is so far the only channel to download third-party apps on Windows 10 S - a tweaked version of Windows 10 that was debuted for institutions earlier this year. This, therefore, brings a major disappointment for Windows 10 S users as they cannot experience Apple Music and iTunes Store just yet. Regular Windows 10 users can access these services by downloading the latest iTunes version for Apple's site.

Alongside iTunes, Microsoft announced at its Build conference in May that it is bringing Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, SUSE Linux, and Fedora to Windows Store, following the arrival of Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). It has since made most of these available.