FRANKFURT, GERMANY: Deutsche Telekom and its European peers plan to launch a rival to Apple's iTunes store by year end, Financial Times Deutschland said on Monday, citing sources close to the company.

The platform will build on existing German media platforms Mediaload, Videoload and Gamesload, to offer "all content" for "all devices" including music, video and even newspaper articles.

In addition, the platform will offer so-called applications for phones which will work for various handset brands, FTD said.

In March, telecom operator-backed mobile software groups signalled closer cooperation to form a new "application" store.