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Apple working on iOS 8.4 update, may include new music service

Screenshot 2015-02-09 14.52.01

In addition to working on iOS 8.2, iOS 8.3, and iOS 9.0, Apple is working on yet another update to iOS 8: iOS 8.4. According to sources, the iOS 8.4 upgrade is well into development and is codenamed Copper, a popular ski resort in Colorado. Sources say that the iOS 8.4 update will be released after the Apple Watch becomes available, so users should not expect this update in the immediate future. Sources also say that Apple is currently considering using iOS 8.4 as the iOS update that includes the upcoming Beats-based streaming music service…

Screenshot 2015-02-09 14.57.11

Our Google Analytics also indicate that iOS 8.4 is well into testing

Of course, these plans could change and the iOS 8.4 feature set could be roped into iOS 9. We previously detailed that the Beats-like cloud-based streaming service will be integrated into the standard iOS music application. Earlier today, we reported that iOS 9 is coming this fall with many bug fixes and under-the-hood changes. We’ve since learned that iOS 9 is codenamed Monarch, another Colorado-based ski resort. A couple of hours ago, Apple seeded the first build of iOS 8.3 to developers with wireless CarPlay, new Emojis, improved Google login, and Apple Pay support for China.

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Comments

  1. Odys (@twittester10) - 9 years ago

    I will be surprised if Apple includes Beats into iOS 8.4 – seems to me it should be one of the key features of iOS 9

    • If you read today’s earlier iOS 9 report by 9to5, you’d know that new features will not be the focus of that iOS. Additionally, Apple doesn’t want to wait until September to launch Beats. They’ll want to have it out before summer. Music sales and radio listening spikes in the summer months, with people looking for that perfect summer party song.

      • Yes, because every Apple rumor you read on the interwebs is true!

      • Odys (@twittester10) - 9 years ago

        I think streaming service represents a new direction for iTunes music, and it is hard to imagine Apple will just roll it out in over-the-air update without special event introduction. I predict music service along with Maps will be one of the few iOS 9 features along with stability and optimizations of iOS

  2. Måns Sandberg - 9 years ago

    Have they ever released a “.4”-version of iOS?

    • No. But they also have never update an iOS version this aggressively. Nor, have they ever had so many new products to launch that required iOS integration.

  3. Ben Govero (@bgovero) - 9 years ago

    Can’t wait til later this afternoon for info on iOS 8.5

  4. Twitboydk (@Twitboydk) - 9 years ago

    I don´t think that Apple will have any real succes with a streaming service at this point in the game. For some reason they just didn´t get what is was all about and now they are simply too late to the game

    • Odys (@twittester10) - 9 years ago

      Disagree – watch WWDC 14 intro video – Apple is not about being first, they are about doing first that actually matters. I think music streaming is only now start to shape into future of how an average user listens to music. With over 800 mil iTunes user base – Apple is primed to bring music streaming to mainstream

    • irockapple - 9 years ago

      You’re speaking as though Apple is starting fresh with a music streaming service. Apple is going to deeply integrate beats into itunes. Beats is already a robust music service and with Apples clout, funds, and services it is only going to get better. It may not be the best from start, but it will only get better. Let’s not forget they have Iovin and Dre (two music moguls) to help ensure this will be a success.

    • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

      The only thing others could have over Apple is algorithms, and numbers of subscribers currently. Since Apple is a trillion times more known than Spotify, they have no problem in getting subscribers if they get the app and algorithms right. What Apple has that the others currently do not, is the most important thing: human curation. In the end there will be so many more subscribers to Apple’s streaming service than the others, it will be as if they are just getting started, when in fact the opposite is true.

      • chrisl84 - 9 years ago

        “human curation” is a joke. The only human who can curate a music playlist for me with songs I want to hear today is….wait for it……ME. Joey DJ Funk Machine 2000 at Apple headquarters will fail just as often at picking the right songs as any computer system. At the end of the day its all algorithms. Human curation doesn’t work on something the scale of 20 million songs.

      • lagax - 9 years ago

        I believe that apple has the ‘most important thing’, but it is definitely not music curation. It’s integration. You know how many people use iTunes even though most other music services are cheaper? Because it’s just one tap away and they (/we) don’t like the hustle… That’s by far the most important think, and that’s why they’re going to win!

      • o0smoothies0o - 9 years ago

        @chris hmm 20m songs. Yeah, that’s true, but the only problem is, it’s not 20m songs, because 99.99% of those aren’t the ones being listened to right now. Almost everyone wants to listen to new songs, and the old ones fade out of popularity very quickly. One of the main reasons streaming services are becoming so popular is for this reason. People realize that they don’t want to buy all of these songs they won’t be listening to very very soon. Granted you can and will of course listen to older songs, but the overwhelming vast majority of listeners are looking for the new songs. End of story. Human curation is far better than you make it out to be as well. I don’t think you even understand the concept, but that’s okay. Humans can make playlists flow from emotion which the songs were trying to convey, rhythm, beat, style, tone, lyrics, themes, the list goes on and on. Algorithms can’t do it, they can simply assist. I’ve listened to sporify, pandora, and iTunes Radio and they suck, because the playlists they create are awful and don’t really make any sense other than the songs are pretty much the same genre and they are popular.

      • Jeff_Shaw38 - 9 years ago

        I’m not totally sure of how Apple Music is going to differ from spotify, pandora, or even its own Apple Radio inside of its current music application? By marketing itself as a competitor to Spotify is Apple saying they have a better way to let people listen to an artists entire album for free so the artist makes no money?

  5. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    Talk about fast.

  6. Well, if Apple needs an iOS update to launch their new streaming service that confirms that it’ll come pre-installed and that it is going to be deeply integrated.

  7. feonix2014 - 9 years ago

    Maybe just maybe they should fix the current IOS before making any more.
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/27600432?ac_cid=tw123456#27600432

  8. feonix2014 - 9 years ago

    Maybe they should fix the current provokes first. https://discussions.apple.com/message/27600432?ac_cid=tw123456#27600432

  9. robertsm76 - 9 years ago

    Mark, didn’t you say in a podcast last week that 8.3 would be for beats and the iPad pro?

  10. tpayne (@tommypjr) - 9 years ago

    fortunately, there are a lot of ski areas in colorado…

  11. charismatron - 9 years ago

    With a 3 billion dollar price tag and all the names included in the Beats acquisition (Iovine, Dre, Reznor, etc.), plus the new streaming service, it’s practically a guarantee the Beats integration will get a significant rollout, probably at the Apple Watch event coming in March.

    Apple is making big moves paying big money to shift itself within the cultural landscape into something far greater than just the best in the biz tech brand. Apple Watch and the new music streaming service present incredible opportunities of re-branding, it seems too important not to leverage these to full advantage.

    There shouldn’t be anything quiet about Beats, just as there shouldn’t be anything low-profile about Apple Watch. For better or worse, these will have profound changes about how Apple is perceived going forward.

  12. Toro Volt (@torovolt) - 9 years ago

    I wont be surprised if people are wasting 20% of their time Managing all these iOS and App updates.
    Stop !

  13. Rhys (@buffers) - 9 years ago

    Knew I wouldn’t have to wait long until iOS 10 gets announced…

  14. Rene G. Solis - 9 years ago

    Please add ability to delete songs directly from iDevices without the need for a computer!

  15. Amitai Palmon - 9 years ago

    A home screen which is less boring would be appreciated. The static applications grid is so old and dated. The notification center’s ‘Today’ tab is not a convenient place to look at widgets, really. Apple would rather adapt the Android way, the WP way, or find a new way of its own.

  16. jorn - 9 years ago

    8.eleventeen rumarz so true

  17. Jeff_Shaw38 - 9 years ago

    I’m not totally sure of how Apple Music is going to differ from spotify, pandora, or even its own Apple Radio inside of its current music application? By marketing itself as a competitor to Spotify is Apple saying they have a better way to let people listen to an artists entire album for free so the artist makes no money?

  18. Nelle Zacharias - 9 years ago

    I installed the update IOS8.4 and as a result all my books are gone. How do I get them back