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Apple’s iTunes Store nearly doubled its international presence on Tuesday, with the company adding a whopping 56 new countries for music, four of which also get movie rentals or purchases.
Apple confirmed the rumors on Tuesday, launching the iTunes Store in Russia as we reported yesterday but going above and beyond with a simultaneous launch in 55 other locales at the same time, including Turkey, India and South Africa.
That brings the grand total to 119 countries where the iTunes Store is now available for music sales, bringing DRM-free tracks and iTunes in the Cloud in addition to 155 countries where the App Store is available.
Russia, Turkey, India and Indonesia will also get iTunes movie rentals and purchases starting today, with “select additional countries” rolling out soon. HD films are available from Hollywood studios like 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures, as well as leading local distributors in each region.
While Apple’s press release doesn’t include a full list of the 56 countries launching the iTunes Store on Tuesday, MacRumors has compiled one of their own, which includes European countries such as Belarus and Ukraine, Middle East locales including Egypt and Saudi Arabia and even Caribbean regions such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
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