Apple has officially flipped the switch on its iTunes Store for music and movie content in 16 Latin American countries. According to a statement posted on the company's website, the store will include local and international music across all major and independent labels, with a catalog of over 20 million songs at launch, plus over 1,000 movies available to rent or purchase – there's no mention of TV shows in the press release.
Specifically, the iTunes Store is launching in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
Pricing is similar to their U.S. counterpart, with most songs and albums going for $0.99 and $9.99, respectively. One possible caveat is that prices are currently in U.S. dollars and users are required to fund their accounts with international credit cards. MacRumors reports that local currencies for Latin American countries are expected to arrive at some point next year – possibly within the next six months.
Additionally, Apple is making its iTunes Match service available to Brazilian users for a yearly fee of $24.99. This marks the first time a country outside of the United States gets the cloud music locker service, which allows them to re-download purchases as many times as they like from the iTunes cloud. The company launched iTunes Match in mid-November and said it's working to roll out the feature around the world.
Great news for Apple users in Latin America. And while it's taken the company nearly eight years to enter the market, at least they're still arriving ahead of music streaming services like Spotify or Rdio – unless you skip geographic restrictions using a proxy or VPN service, of course.