“Apple will bundle the subscription music service it acquired from Beats into its iOS operating system early next year, instantly making it available on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads – and ramping up pressure on Spotify, the market leader in music streaming,” Matthew Garrahan and Tim Bradshaw report for The Financial Times.
“The inclusion of the paid for Beats service in an iOS software update could happen as early as March, according to people familiar with the situation,” Garrahan and Bradshaw report. “Pre-installing apps on devices is seen as a fast track to reaching new customers. Apple could also take advantage of its new mobile payments service to enable customers to subscribe with just one touch of the iPhone’s fingerprint reader… The service, which is likely to be rebranded under the iTunes label, will form part of a three-pronged music strategy for Apple, alongside downloads and iTunes Radio, which it launched in 2013. ”
“Apple’s installed base of active music buyers dwarfs other services, according to Midia Research, a music analysis firm, which estimates it has 200m active iTunes customers. Apple’s push to capitalise on the Beats service will start from a low base, however, as Midia estimates Beats Music has only 110,000 subscribers,” Garrahan and Bradshaw report. “Apple is preparing to put its new Watch on sale in early 2015, to which the new music push could be linked. Earlier this year, Apple used its ability to push content to its vast customer base to bundle its iBooks app with iOS 8, rather than requiring users to download it from the App Store.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As expected.
I’m already paying for music match.
I think this is why my iTunes radio is commercial free.
I hope my music match subscription means no commercials in Beats music too.
It’s called “iTunes Match.”
Most people who are actually paying for it, like me, know its proper name.
I’m guessing your proper name rhymes with “Harass Foal.”
Yes, I’m paying for it.
I’ve been a mac user since the classic 2
See, I purposedly didn’t capitalize the m or the c and used a 2 instead of II just to irritate you.
You mean there will be another icon we can’t get rid of?
Yep- another app that any of those who don’t use can’t remove from their iOS device. I don’t mind the bundling, but at least let people remove apps they don’t want to use. It frees up space and reduces clutter on their iOS device.
Along with not being able to customize the user interface much (changing backgrounds is about it), I think Apple is doing a disservice for their customers with this.
Maybe not. My iPhone 6 came with all the iWork apps preinstalled, but it looks like I can get rid of them. (I haven’t yet.)
——RM
Good with me as long as it doesn’t pre-install any more bono.
Beats music runs on Android… shall this continue?
If it were my question to answer, it would go like this:
Beats will continue on Android. Why not? The income is already there. It is part of what Apple paid for.
Development, however, has been long since suspended on it for a while. There will not be any iTunes/Apple wrapped version of Beats on Android. That would be… just… wrong.
That’s good. Apple can push Beats Music to every iOS device in a matter of days. I’d like to see Google try that with their music service. It would probably take months if not forever. However, knowing Apple, Beats Music will only be allowed to run on the latest OS. I still don’t understand why older versions of OSX don’t have iTunes Radio. What’s the big deal? I’m guessing Apple simply wants users to upgrade to a newer OS.
Just move those icons, if you really don’t want to use them, to a folder called unused or something and place it on the last page of the iPhone, not perfect, but for the most part they are out of sight..
I do not want beaten By Dre on my devices Mr Cook and let me DELETE the effing mess you pissed away almost $3 Billion on. Worthless, unwanted apps that cannot be deleted is not the way to go.
I buy music- I don’t rent it.
You’re special. Short yellow bus special.
Nobody wants another unused app that they cannot delete. That and the fact that they paid that no talent GF beater Dre a fortune for shitty headphones and a me too subscription service with fewer users than Windows Phone.