Apple is slowly killing the iTunes brand

Apple is slowly moving away from its iTunes brand and software and towards a new "Apple" branding. 

On Thursday, Apple renamed "iTunes Podcasts" to "Apple Podcasts," 9to5Mac reports. The new name is similar to Apple Music, the company's streaming music service. 

There aren't any major changes to Apple's podcast service or app along with the rebrand. Some podcasters recently expressed concerns about Apple's podcasting platform, and the exec in charge, Eddy Cue, has promised future changes. 

What's clear is that "Apple" is the company's preferred naming convention for music, podcasts, and other content distribution services. iTunes, which was first introduced in 1998, is on its way out, but it may take years to change all of the Apple products named after it, including the app that is still used to sync an iPhone to Windows or Mac computers. 

A previous rumor suggested that Apple could kill the signature iTunes product, single song downloads, but Apple denied that report. 

Here's the new logo: