Airtel and Apple enter into a strategic partnership in India.
Bharti Airtel is set to shut down its Wynk music app to gear a partnership with Apple providing music and video content. The telecommunication giant Airtel has come up with exclusive offers for Apple Music and Apple TV+ to customers before the end of this year.
Airtel is halting the Wynk Music and all the employees will be shifted to the company’s ecosystem, as per PTI quoting Airtel’s spokesperson. The company has already announced a strategic partnership with Apple. The users who have subscriptions to the Wynk music streaming service including Wynk Premium can access special offers on Apple Music as the Wynk Premium users will be rolled onto Apple Music & get exclusive offers.
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The Apple TV+ will also be integrated into the video streaming platforms which can be accessed through Premium Subscription Plans as Apple TV+ is set to be bundled with premium Airtel WiFi & postpaid plans (w/ Xstream content).
The new plan is said to be Airtel’s strategic move to exit the most challenging market that could potentially provide the tech giant Apple with a new user base in India. Wynk has been generating Rs 250- Rs 300 crore revenue annually. As per the reports, the 100 million people using the Wynk music app will be integrated into Apple Music for a limited free trial period and later to more offers via Premium Subscriptions.
Wynk Music is a leading Indian music streaming platform and digital distributor, offering a vast library of content in 14 languages. It was launched in 2014 by Airtel Digital Limited, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited. The music app is accessible in India, Sri Lanka, and 15 African nations.
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The new partnership has been announced amid the sparking controversy of the Reliance-Disney merger as the antitrust issues have been on the table for quite some time. The newly formed entity, helmed by Nita Ambani as Chairperson and Uday Shankar as Vice Chairperson, has become a frontrunner in television and digital streaming platforms, boasting a comprehensive portfolio of entertainment and sports content. This new merger raises concerns as Reliance and Disney create antitrust challenges and intense scrutiny as the partnership may be marked as the entertainment superpower and control the latter.
