Apple tweaks iTunes for iPhone 3G users

Californian kit vendor Apple upped its game in the mobile space Tuesday evening, tweaking its iTunes marketplace to allow iPhone users to download music on the fly.

During its last ever keynote at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco this week, Apple said that iPhone 3G users would now be able to preview and purchase content from the entire iTunes music catalogue over the 3G network. Until now, users had only been able to make purchases and downloads over wifi or by syncing with a PC.

The move will give Apple a stronger position in the mobile music market as it goes up against rival offerings from the operator community as well as rivals such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

Also delivering on a long awaited move, the company also said that the cast majority of its iTunes music library would also be made available in DRM free format.

All four major music labels – Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, have made their content available in an unlocked format at 256kbps AAC encoding.

Beginning in April, songs on iTunes will also be available at one of three price points: $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.