What software tools did Apple use to make the iTunes Store?

Question

I've enjoyed using the iTunes Store but I'm curious on what it was developed on (PHP & MySQL, Something Custom?).

Answer 1

WebObjects. It comes with XCode these days, but used to cost over $50 000! Not sure about the database backend. I seem to recall reading that it was Oracle, but I don't have a source and may have just accidentally made that up.

Answer 2

I think whatever answer you get will be 99% speculation. I would bet that if someone really did work for Apple and did have the facts they wouldn't be allowed to share them.

Answer 3

Joe Nuxoll former apple employee on the java posse pod cast has mentioned that they use web objects.

Answer 4

@Stephen Darlington is correct, it's WebObjects. The WO code generates pure Java, which is further optimized. The code has been rewritten a couple of times.

Interestingly, Dell's original BYO website was written in WebObjects, the $50,000 version back in 1996.

Answer 5

yeah its webObjects, also you can use multiple database sources with WO and you can combine other languages with it such as JS and php

In reality webobjects has been overlooked for some time now, mainly because of its past price and that it has not been well marketed by apple

Answer 6

Hi

iTunes store is a mix of a lot of technologies, but the main one is Apple's WebObjects. WebObjects is rock solid java framework including a lot of mature technologies (templating, ORM).

WebObjects is free (correct me if i'm wrong), can be installed virtually on every platform and is not restricted on MacOSX. WebObjects is mainly developped using eclipse and a plugin called WOLips. There is a very active community behind this framework and the development tools.

Some links :

• The official WebObjects community website
• The WebObjects/Wonder/Wolips community wiki