Are you waiting with bated breath for iTunes 11? If so, you'll have to wait a bit longer.
In September, Apple told the world that the newest version of its music-playing software was coming in late October. But on Tuesday, with only a single day left in the month, Apple announced that the upgrade would have to wait another month.
"The new iTunes is taking longer than expected and we wanted to take a little extra time to get it right," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told tech blog AllThingsD. "We look forward to releasing this new version of iTunes with its dramatically simpler and cleaner interface, and seamless integration with iCloud before the end of November."
The redesign was expected to be the biggest overhaul to iTunes since its launch in 2003, according to sources that spoke with Bloomberg News. During a September event, Apple's Eddy Cue promised a "dramatically simpler" iTunes, with improved performance and a long-awaited "Up Next" feature that lets users cue up songs.
Even up to the tech giant's third-quarter earnings call last week, Apple bragged about the revamp without mentioning a potential delay.
"We look forward to looking to launching a redesigned iTunes," Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer told investors during the call. "The new iTunes has a dramatically simpler and cleaner interface."
Some have speculated that a reason for the delay was the recent announcement that iOS Senior Vice President Steve Forstall is stepping down from his role and will eventually leave Apple. But AllThingsD's Peter Kafka threw cold water on that theory.
"[I]t’s worth pointing out that Forstall wasn’t in charge of iTunes — it falls under media boss Eddy Cue," Kafka wrote.
Another theory goes that Apple needs time to wrap into iTunes an Internet radio service, similar to Pandora, that the company is rumored to be developing.
In 2010, Apple introduced iTunes 10, a version that included music-sharing feature Ping, which proved unpopular and was discontinued this year.
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