Tim Cook’s in China right now, and what better way to showcase Apple’s dedication to growing its Chinese customer base than by updating GarageBand for Mac and iOS with new instruments intended to, “celebrate the rich history of Chinese music?”
The update adds 300 new Chinese musical loops including guzheng, dizi, yangqin and Peking Opera samples, as well as a plethora of Chinese musical instruments such as the pipa, erhu, and Chinese percussion.
On top of this, the iOS update makes it easy for music creators to share their works on Asian social networks QQ and Youku, while the localization update additionally adds Simplified and Traditional Chinese translations for all sounds, loops, and instruments.
“GarageBand is the most popular music creation app in the world and we’re excited to introduce these new features that incorporate the rich history of traditional Chinese music,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Product Marketing. “By adding classic Chinese instruments and new Live Loop templates, the new GarageBand app makes it fun and easy to make Chinese-inspired music right on your iPhone, iPad or Mac.”
GarageBand is available for both iOS and Mac from their respective App Stores costing $4.99, although the update is free if you’ve previously downloaded it.
As noted, it arrives at an interesting point in Apple’s relationship with China — following soon after Chinese courts stripped Apple of its exclusive iPhone trademark and the government banned Apple from operating its iBooks and iTunes Movies stores in China. Despite these impediments, Tim Cook has remained optimistic that China represents Apple’s future biggest market — and has openly admitted that the company designs new products with that audience in mind.
