Beats Music will be native iOS app starting with spring 2015 update - report
Though it will remain a paid subscription service, Apple's Beats Music will reportedly come preinstalled on every iPhone after an update to iOS next spring, according to a new report.
The major push for Beats Music will begin as soon as March of 2015, unnamed sources reportedly told the Financial Times. The change of Beats Music to a native iOS app would be a major push against competing streaming services like Spotify, which currently have a larger share of subscribers.
Wednesday's report suggested that the Beats Music push and corresponding iOS update could be tied to the launch of the Apple Watch, which is scheduled to launch in early 2015. A beta of iOS 8.2, with support for the WatchKit development tools, was supplied to developers on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, it was said that Apple apparently plans to retire the Beats Music brand next year, though the subscription streaming service it acquired as part of its blockbuster $3 billion buyout of Beats will remain active. Those rumors suggested that Apple is looking to brand the subscription service more in line with other first-party offerings like the iTunes Store, iTunes Radio and iTunes Match.
Before it was owned by Apple, Beats Music also got off to a slow start, with just 110,000 subscribers as of March. Its performance since being acquired by Apple remains unknown.
It's also been reported that Apple hopes to boost Beats Music subscriptions by cutting the price to just $5 per month. Apple is said to have pitched a proposal to music labels suggesting that a lower price point could grow music subscriptions considerably.
Currently, a subscription to Beats Music costs $9.99 per month, but if users are willing to sign up for a full year, it costs $99.99 for 12 months.
The major push for Beats Music will begin as soon as March of 2015, unnamed sources reportedly told the Financial Times. The change of Beats Music to a native iOS app would be a major push against competing streaming services like Spotify, which currently have a larger share of subscribers.
Wednesday's report suggested that the Beats Music push and corresponding iOS update could be tied to the launch of the Apple Watch, which is scheduled to launch in early 2015. A beta of iOS 8.2, with support for the WatchKit development tools, was supplied to developers on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, it was said that Apple apparently plans to retire the Beats Music brand next year, though the subscription streaming service it acquired as part of its blockbuster $3 billion buyout of Beats will remain active. Those rumors suggested that Apple is looking to brand the subscription service more in line with other first-party offerings like the iTunes Store, iTunes Radio and iTunes Match.
Before it was owned by Apple, Beats Music also got off to a slow start, with just 110,000 subscribers as of March. Its performance since being acquired by Apple remains unknown.
It's also been reported that Apple hopes to boost Beats Music subscriptions by cutting the price to just $5 per month. Apple is said to have pitched a proposal to music labels suggesting that a lower price point could grow music subscriptions considerably.
Currently, a subscription to Beats Music costs $9.99 per month, but if users are willing to sign up for a full year, it costs $99.99 for 12 months.
Comments
Though it will remain a paid subscription service, Apple's Beats Music will reportedly come preinstalled on every iPhone after an update to iOS next spring, according to a new report.
Oh my, I can just hear the ranting and raving over a preinstalled app that ‘nobody wants’ and cannot be deleted. Did Bono come up with this idea?
There are still threads on the Apple discussion forums kept alive by malcontents railing over not being able to delete the Newsstand app. And that’s been going on for a couple of years now.
Yep, the trolls are already going apeshit over at MacRumors about ‘more bloat’ and still not being able to delete Newsstand. So utterly predictable.
Get out the lawn chairs, put the beer on ice, make the popcorn. It’s gonna be a three ring circus with clowns and confetti canons... and maybe midgets too.
You know the old saying, "If you can't beat'em, stab'em!"
if apple kept it at $10/month but allowed for the user to keep an album each month it would be a steal.
I have an idea: discontinue this, incorporate into iTunes (OS X)/Music (iOS) instead of the nonsense they’re planning.
So Apple removes Neato and forces Beats on all iPhone users. Ugh.
The whole Beats thing has been negative after negative for Apple. (U2, spat with Bose, and now this). I think Tim Cook has done a fantastic job in general, and when he had missteps, was able to fix them quickly (Browett -> Ahrendts). The Beats acquisition, however, appears to be a misstep that keeps on hurting.
/s
Oh my, I can just hear the ranting and raving over a preinstalled app that ‘nobody wants’ and cannot be deleted. Did Bono come up with this idea?
There are still threads on the Apple discussion forums kept alive by malcontents railing over not being able to delete the Newsstand app. And that’s been going on for a couple of years now.
Yep, the trolls are already going apeshit over at MacRumors about ‘more bloat’ and still not being able to delete Newsstand. So utterly predictable.
Get out the lawn chairs, put the beer on ice, make the popcorn. It’s gonna be a three ring circus with clowns and confetti canons... and maybe midgets too.
People who have the 16 GB base model of the iPhone are justified in complaining about bloat from Apple. If Apple doesn't want any complaints, they should give these people more space and they should not have to spend more money just to get the 64 GB model.
current beats subscriber - awesome service
if apple kept it at $10/month but allowed for the user to keep an album each month it would be a steal.
Zune did this but everybody poo-poo'd it. Frankly, looking back, that was a great service in a slick app (Im not taking about the hardware.. that was another story!)
Beats music has zero brand cache. Apple should merge it with iTunes. An added benefit is it won't be another iOS app that can't be removed.
Though I personally don't want anything to do with Beats as a 30 year old who hates this rage of crappy musak, I fear that there is a huge younger generation (10-22) who are much more likely to value it.. It may well make business sense for Apple to take a dual approach with the branding to serve the two audiences, but I'm not sure that's workable. So ultimately they'll target it to their future market rather than an ageing one..
Exactly- and there is absolutely nothing trolling about asking to get rid of crap you're never going to use.
Though I personally don't want anything to do with Beats as a 30 year old who hates this rage of crappy musak, I fear that there is a huge younger generation (10-22) who are much more likely to value it.. It may well make business sense for Apple to take a dual approach with the branding to serve the two audiences, but I'm not sure that's workable. So ultimately they'll target it to their future market rather than an ageing one..
I don't know. I love old music, and Beats seems to have everything from the Grand Ol Oprey, to Dylan's folk years, and BeBop Jazz.
Also. Beats is curated by humans - not an algorithm like Pandora.