What is iTunes Tone Store?

iTunes Tone Store has been outed on this slide from yesterday’s keynote.

In addition to the big ones, iOS 5 includes dozens of nice-to-haves that have been given little air time during Apple’s WWDC keynote talk yesterday, excluding passing mention on a group slide. So, what do you see in the above snap? Yeah, it’s Apple’s iOS software chief Scott Forstall zipping through the iOS 5 segment of the keynote. See the iTunes Tone Store mention on the slide? Given Apple already sells 99-cent ringtones on iTunes and they let us create our own 30-second snippets from iTunes purchases, we can’t help but wonder – why do we need yet another store? Plus, a Paal, Belgium-based reader creates a YouTube video as a comment to this article, found at the bottom.

I can hear your brain cells screaming: SMS tones! As many people know, there is no easy way to put custom SMS sounds on your handset. You are able to create your own ringtones in iTunes and Garageband, but that’s where the fun stops for most folks. That being said, an iTunes section dedicated to custom alert sounds could be Godsent for non-techies, especially in the 99-cent economy. Few are eager to subject themselves to the ordeal of creating custom tones. Most just wanna load up their cellphones with various sound snippets, depending on their mood. And if you’re thinking nobody in their right mind would be willing to pay 99 cents for a one-second soundclip, you’re wrong – this is about personalization and convenience.

If Apple can remove the complexity by letting me pick a high-quality sound from the store, purchase it on the go with a single click and set it as my text, email, notification or whatever sound alert, I’m sold. And don’t get me wrong, but $0.99 says a lot of you would take the plunge as well. By the way, checking out Boy Genius Reports’ extensive iOS 5 image gallery uncovered this screenshot below. So yeah, Apple is planning on selling us tones for iOS 5 alert sounds. And if that ain’t convincing enough for you, check out a short clip our reader from Paal, Belgium created after seeing this article. Thanks guys, you’re awesome. Mystery solved folks, moving on…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leZ2zows6-Q?rel=0&w=670&h=411]