Apple finally launched its iTunes music store in Latin America recently. The digital music download store was launched in Mexico on August 4, the first in the region. America Movil, the dominant mobile carrier in Mexico, had been offering the iPhone for over a year and it launched the iPhone 3GS in the country and several others on July 31.

According to Pyramid Research, the Latin American smart-phone market will rise to 30 percent of all handset sales in the region by 2014, up from just 3 percent last year, and Apple's share of the market could reach 15 percent in 2009 largely due to America Movil subsidizing the older version of the iPhone with a two year contract.

Music industry estimates put mobile sales accounting for more than 80 percent of digital music revenue in Latin America last year, and now over-the-air downloads are being looked at to provide growth in the market. Carriers also will push feature-packed smart-phones in an attempt to get more revenue through downloaded data by customers.

Pyramid senior analyst Omar Salvador said that the iTunes music store is "another step to reinforce the attractiveness of the iPhone in Mexico." Tracks are priced at 12 pesos (91c) on the new store and albums will set customers back 120 pesos ($9). iTunes gift cards are being promoted in the region due to the low use of credit cards to make purchases.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), revenue from recorded music sales plunged 22 percent in Mexico in 2008 with digital sales growing about 1.3 percent. "We want to compete with piracy," Apple VP of Internet services Eddy Cue says. "We think the majority of people are honest, and what they haven't had was a great, legal alternative."