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Apple promises an iTunes "day you'll never forget"

Apple is girding its loins for an iTunes announcement tomorrow at 3pm Blighty time, and it's going to be "a day that you'll never forget".

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Apple is girding its loins for an iTunes announcement tomorrow at 3pm Blighty time, and it's going to be "a day that you'll never forget". The fruit-flavoured manufacturer is set to unleash the recently announced desktop App Store on an unsuspecting public -- or could it be the long-awaited cloud-based iTunes?

Apple unveiled the App Store for computers with the latest version of the OS X Lion operating system. You'll be able to buy and install applications on your iMac and MacBook just as you do now with your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The App Store for computers is set to be similar to the current App Store for mobile devices. You'll be able to buy applications knowing someone at Apple has checked the apps are safe, virus-free and do what they say on the tin.

Apple jealously guards the keys to the App Store, of course, and as such apps have to comply with the strict rules laid down by Steve Jobs and his apostles. That may mean that some app developers could be forced to cut out more esoteric functions Apple doesn't like the sound of. You'll still be able to download applications from their source, however, safe in the knowledge all your cash is going to the developer, rather than diverting 30 per cent into Jobsy's sky-rocket.

A one-stop shop for applications sounds great, as long as the near non-existent search function gets sorted out in iTunes. But what if tomorrow's announcement is something else? Long-touted rumours include iTunes based in the cloud, streaming music to your Mac. Or it could be the Beatles. Or "never forget" could be a clue that iTunes is being taken over by Take That.

While we wait, let's contemplate what life would be like if Steve Jobs was in charge of the universe.