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Apple launches iTunes store in Brazil, Latin America
MUMBAI: Apple has announced the launch of the iTunes Store in Brazil with a selection of Brazilian and international music from all the major labels and thousands of independent labels.
Launching with a catalogue of over 20 million songs, the iTunes Store in Brazil features local artists including Ivete Sangalo, Marisa Monte and the digital debut of Roberto Carlos‘ catalog, available to purchase and download along with a wide range of international artists including the Beatles, Rihanna, Coldplay and thousands more.
With most songs priced at 99 cents and most albums at $9.99, the iTunes Store in Brazil is the best way for iPad, iPhone, iPod, Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online.
The iTunes Store in Brazil offers over a thousand movies to rent or purchase, with many in HD, from studios including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures.
The iTunes Store in Brazil now joins the App Store, which offers more than 500,000 apps to consumers in 123 countries, reaching hundreds of millions of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users around the world. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps to date.
Apple is also bringing the iTunes Store to 15 additional Latin American countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
The iTunes Store in Brazil and Latin America offer music from major labels EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music, and thousands of independent labels.
All music on iTunes comes in iTunes Plus, Apple‘s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings, says the company.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
