A store with an "Apple Store" sign is seen in Shenzhen, China, Sept. 21, 2015. (Photo : Reuters)
Apple announced on Wednesday that its cloud-based Apple Music streaming service is now available in China, along with iTunes Movies and iBooks.
Apple Music will provide subscribers access to more than 30 million songs for 10 yuan ($1.57) after an initial three-month trial membership, the company said in a statement.
For iTunes iMovies and iBooks, rental prices will start at 5 yuan ($3.14) and 18 yuan ($2.82), respectively.
"Customers in China love the App Store and have made it our largest market in the world for app downloads," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. "One of the top requests has been more great content and we're thrilled to bring music, movies and books to China, curated by a local team of experts."
The price of Apple Music in China is a sharp drop compared to that in the U.S., where membership costs nearly $10 a month, although it is in line with that of other streaming services in the country such as Tencent's QQ Music, Netease and Baidu.
The service will also feature local artists including Eason Chan, Li Ronghao, JJ Lin and G.E.M., the company said.
The announcement comes at a time when the Cupertino-based tech firm has been struggling to reassure shareholders about its business in China, one of the key markets for iPhones, following a recent slump in the country's economy and the devaluation of the yuan.
Industry observers also cast doubt on Apple's ability to compete in China.
Music streaming providers in China are all faced with trying to get listeners to pay for the stuff after years of downloading pirated music for free, Marc Schneider, an editor for the Billboard magazine, wrote in an article on Friday.
Apple said that the streaming service will be made available on Android smartphones this fall.
