Apple won’t take the wraps off of its upcoming Beats-based music streaming service at its March 9 “Spring Forward” event, according to music industry sources briefed on the launch timeline. Instead, Apple currently plans to introduce the service, at least in beta form, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in early June. The WWDC keynote likely takes place on Monday, June 8th, and that’s the event where the debut will occur. The new iTunes music streaming service is based on technology acquired from Beats Music, including curated playlists, cloud-based libraries, and offerings customized to the musical tastes of individual users. The service will be priced as high as $7.99 per month, which is less expensive than current $9.99 pricing for Beats Music, Spotify, and Rdio…
The service was initially planned for launch earlier in 2015, but was delayed by the departures of key employees, as well as difficulties integrating Beats human and technology resources into Apple. Some Beats executives such as Bobby Gaza, who was a Senior Vice President at Beats in charge of technology, have departed Apple in recent weeks. The new Apple-made service will also make way for Apple’s first entirely-in-house Android application, but sources say that delays to the Android app are also possible as some of Apple’s Android developers have also left the company. Apple has, not coincidentally, published job listings for Android developers in recent days.
Apple currently plans to launch the new music service as part of an iOS 8.4 upgrade for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch following WWDC, but a final decision has not yet been made. It’s possible that the service will be bundled into iOS 9 this fall, which is expected to have a significant focus on bug fixes and stability improvements. The service will be integrated into the standard iOS Music application and will function similarly to Beats Music for iPhone, but it will have an entirely Apple-designed aesthetic that matches the Music app and iOS. On the Mac side, the new service will be implemented with an iTunes update.
As for the Apple TV, the new service will be an app that replaces the existing Beats channel. Sources say that Apple is also finishing up work on a slimmer Apple TV set-top-box with a more capable and tactile remote control and a redesigned operating system bundled with an App Store. As of last fall, Apple had hoped to debut a new set top box as soon as this month, but with reports of the discussions between Apple and content providers being in only “early stages”, it seems that, just like last year, content roadblocks could keep the new Apple TV from debuting until another point in the future. As we learned yesterday regarding the larger iPad Pro, Apple will have another busy fall, so perhaps the new Apple TV will launch later in the year.
While the streaming service won’t debut at the March event, as some had hoped, Apple still has plenty to talk about. The Apple Watch will be the cornerstone of the event, where sources expect Apple to spend a significant amount of time introducing and demonstrating third-party WatchKit applications as selling points for the device. It is also highly likely that Apple will discuss the rest of the price points for the device and its accessories before the April ship date. Apple has a redesigned MacBook Air with Retina display in the works for this year, but it remains unclear whether Apple actually plans to debut the computer at the March event.
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Good news for next Dre album?
You mean Detox? :p
You guys have been teasing this story for over a year now. When are you going to accept that Beats will never be integrated into the Apple ecosystem.
Just to get picky, Apple on announced they were going to buy beats nine months ago and only finalized the deal seven months ago so they have not been teasing the story for over a year. And of course Apple is going to integrate Beats, why else would they spend $3B on the company?
They have never acquired a company and left its brand as a stand alone product. That’s not to say they won’t, it would just be a surprise if they didn’t integrate it.
Apple’s bought music delivery companies in the past with no noticeable change to iTunes. 9to5mac has been posted rumors about Beats for what feels like forever. Why should we believe any of the rumors now? Why doesn’t 925mac just stop posted Beats related rumors until one actually comes true.
Mark has been proven to be credible with inside information several times. I do not doubt him here (in fact I’ve suspected this would happen anyway) And Beats is already being integrated into the Apple ecosystem. Look one article older and you’ll see Beats has been integrated into AppleCare.
You’re right, they haven’t made any noticeable change, but I would be there have been changes on the back end that we don’t notice. Again though, this is the largest acquisition they have ever made and I would be surprised if we didn’t see changes because of it. But perhaps you are right, time will tell.
I am not typically in the business of pointing things out on forums like this, but you do realize you are complaining about a rumor site posting rumors, right? If the rumors come true then they are just news. Thats no fun ;-)
Integrate it into iOS 9 and OS 10.11 so it gets pushed out in the fall in all the new hardware sales as well as software upgrades.
It’s also scandalous that your using the same doctored photo.
Yeah, could you guys totally, like, NEVER use that image EVER again?
Apple is not going to release and Android App. They may technically own one right now, but the new service is not going to be released on Android.
It is not to Apple’s benefit. They wouldn’t sully their own values by creating for Android, and they are fully aware of blackhole that is Android when it comes to any form of “profit”.
There is no money to be made from Android users.
will see about that. … Let’s be realistic – the content owners probably don’t want to only have their music available to the iOS/OSX audience… may not be greedy , but record labels are notorious..
Just like Apple would never create a Windows program, until they did with iTunes 10 years ago. If it serves a greater purpose, they will do it.
Apple didn’t spend $3 billion just to have another iOS only service to help sell more iPhones. They just sold an insane number of iPhones in 2014 without Beats. They purchased Beats because iTunes business is slowing and monthly streaming is the future. So just like they made iTunes available for Windows, they will make beats available for Android (and it’s also worth pointing out that they need to get more people hooked into an Apple music ecosystem, or else even people with iPhones won’t use iTunes/Beats because they can just stream their Amazon or Google Play music on the iPhone).
You clearly extremely extremely uninformed
You are very uninformed about that you are talking about. It would greatly benefit Apple. In a time of declining iTunes revenue and sales and more people using streaming service Apple would be the dumbest company on earth to limit that to one OS. Also good luck getting record companies on board with that. They would never agree to being on a streaming service only available for one piece of OS. Also no money to be made from Android users is a flat out untrue statement not supported by any actual facts. There is in fact plenty of money to be made on Android. So educate yourself you silly sad troll.
Apple TV is so far behind it’s embarrassing. As is the iTunes store in terms of device integration and ease of use. their whole media presence is a confusing wish-mash of broken functionality and ridiculously designed apps.
For instance it’s been YEARS since it was pointed out, and Apple has still not fixed the basic problem of the “wish lists” on all mobile devices, Apple TVs and PCs being COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE WITH EACH OTHER. WTF? It’s a cloud based service for crimes sake. The UI for Apple TV is just atrocious and WORSE for browsing media than even the semi-crappy UI within iTunes itself. The Apple TV remote rarely last a full year before dying. The list of problems with Apple TV, buying media from iTunes, and integration of the services with your mobile devices are miles long.
As an avid user I must say that it’s just f*cking embarrassing how bad Apple TV is currently and how long it’s been that way too. Shame Apple. Shame.
I’ve got TV remotes 3 years old that still work fine. I’ve got 5 TV’s and all the remotes work. Hell I had an old white remote that I had to use in a pinch once and it even worked. The thing was like 7 years old. The UI isn’t the WORST thing ever. It’s not as good as the old UI, but it works well enough. I do wish they didn’t list each TV season individually. Scrolling through a TV show list with 10 seasons of Friends in it is cumbersome I’ll admit. I don’t use wish lists so no idea what you’re talking about there. But buying media from iTunes and the integration of services between different Apple devices is the tightest of anyone out there. You buy something on one device and it can be set to immediately download on your other devices or is available immediately in the cloud. I won’t say there aren’t issues, but integration isn’t one of them. I’d say their only real issues are with browsing your media in certain situations like the aforementioned TV list scrolling or with trying to find your locally stored movies in the middle of all the iTunes in the cloud movies on-device. Unless you want to put your media on an Android device, but good luck with that headache anyway.
I love my Apple TV but it really gets the shaft from Apple as far as updates go. I am not sure a new feature has been added in years only new “channels” which means the user experience has remained the same since 2010 or so. It feels very stale at this point but because its over-flowing with potential I cant help but love it.
Well, you could have just said “I disagree with everything you’ve said.” :-)
As to those white remotes, I’ve used them too when the aluminium ones went south. I’ve also used the remote app when I’ve had trouble with the physical remote. They all work, but in my experience not consistently or reliably, and not for very long. My Apple TV is literally the ONLY media device I use (Netflix and streaming from local computers), so it’s possible that I use both the remote and the Apple TV for longer periods and with more consistency than the average user.
All that being said, I have had every version of Apple TV and used them all. Each came with a remote, and not one of those remotes lasted more than about 6 months before the battery died.
The problem with that is that if you go to the Apple store (at least mine) they don’t even carry replacement batteries for the remotes. You are left struggling to find a Radio Shack and looking at cryptic charts of battery name comparisons to determine which battery replacement you need.
My current remote has gone through 4 batteries now (which gives a clear idea of how long it’s been since the last product update), each lasts a shorter length of time than the one previous. The remote itself is now so damaged from removing the batteries and putting new ones in (hey, I tried to be careful but that soft aluminium …), and the battery that’s in it is dying quickly. I’m not even sure if you can BUY a replacement remote for an Apple TV that you already have. I’ve certainly never seen one for sale on Apple’s site or at their store.
For brevity I won’t get into the UI problems, the Wi-Fi problems, and the syncing and Home sharing problems. Checking any Apple TV forum will show you the many immense problems people are having with it lately.
I think if you just want to use the Apple TV “casually” or intermittently, it’s fine, but as a go-to day by day solution for media … not at all.
I have to agree. I bought the Apple TV for its potential but I have sat by several years and watched that head start over competition and potential wasted.
The UI is ugly as sin as well as cumbersome with the collection of icons all over the place. Even the original UI was better than the current incarnation.
Management of files is awful. Try scrolling to a song that you want to listen to if you own more than 1,000 songs. There is no quick indexing like the music app on the iOS. Also why are all my movies forced into a singular folder? I should be able to create multiple folders or directories to access
There needs to be an app store and support for third party apps. Also, please for the love of god include PLEX.
Why is this not universal and syncing across all mediums as all other iOS MAC devices do?
There are bigger issues than just the Apple TV. iTunes was amazing ten years ago but now it is a loaded cumbersome application. I actually find it confusing at times as to where things are located.
I hate to say it but I replaced my Apple TV’s with the Amazon Fire Stick this past holiday season and have been using the google play store more and more due to its ease of use and access.
I agree with some of your sentiments.
I dont have cable, so I use AppleTV as our main source of entertainment through streaming of Hulu, Netflix, FX, ESPN, Showtime, HBO and iTunes. I have two AppleTvs (2nd Gen/3rd Gen), WDTV and a Sony smart Blu Ray (for VUDU/Amazon/USB content). I find the AppleTV the easiest to use, but sometimes annoying to browse for a song you want to play.
My wish list: 1.NAS support and USB would make it a killer for me. Its why I like the WDTV better. I can dump content to a USB/NAS drive and play it there. 2nd Gen AppleTV jailbroken does this. 2. add VUDU support I have over 600 movies/tv with their disc to digital program and purchases that I have acquired. (yes i know it is an iTunes competitor but lets be real, lower prices win and i find iTunes has lower prices from time to time).
Other issues from time to time where the 3rd Gen it just losses ability to stream anything, reboot and it works fine. Its like the network times out after sitting idling. I have it hard wired for the last 6 months and still happens from time to time.
I hate having to re-authenticate for apps that requires cable subscription. Seems like once a week or so. Not sure if its Apple or more of the provider that pushes that annoyingly, especially for ESPN or Disney.
In regards authentication, one of my biggest gripes with Apple TV is that Home Sharing (and everything else) relies on your Apple ID, and my Apple ID is constantly being reset or asked to be reset by Apple, because of the many security issues that pop up from time to time.
This means that I have to re-enter my Apple ID and password in 3 different locations, and re-start both the Apple TV device and all my computers once every couple of weeks or so. This takes about 20 minutes each time.
I don’t understand why content deals are holding it back; the current version has been trundling along getting crappy useless additions for years, in no particular hurry. Who is going to want to pay £10 a month for HBO and £10 for this or that, when you can just buy individual seasons from iTunes of the shows you like, or stream netflix. It should just get an App Store, which it could have technically done at the same time the iPhone did, improve the remote (maybe a stereo touchpad with a couple of buttons) be a hub for the Internet of things, and bob’s your uncle…
What will become of the existing AppleRadio streaming part of the iOS app? The price for that is included in the annual $35 for iTunes Match, which is significantly less than $8/month.
THIS…
I use Apple Radio now with iTunes Match so this concerns me.
Given that iTunes Radio was promised to roll out to al countries last year and then just didn’t …
I would think that it’s dead in the water and just awaiting the funeral announcement.
It makes sense that this will be one of the 7-10 major iOS 9 features that they show off at WWDC in June.
Does anyone know if the new Apple streaming service will be U.S. only or will Canada be in the mix?
This picture is hilarious, not sure if you guys intentionally use this one but it distracts me from the article with the size of Eddy Cue’s HEAD…..
nobody cares about the streaming music service. Skip 2015 if you want.
So is itunes coming to android? Or just the rebranded beats music service?
Probably a bit of both.
“WWDC keynote takes place on Monday, June 8th”. It does? When was that announced?
It’s called looking at history of when past WWDCs were held. It isn’t hard to figure out when the next one will be. Or are you too stupid to understand that.
I still say that if Apple allowed Apple TV boxes to connect to a samba server it will double its market place. I know of loads of people who agree with this and believe it or not we are all waiting and hoping for this to happen if it ever does. I can not see the problem in Apple allowing this as it is so simple to do. I suppose I must stick with my WDTV live for now but heres hoping one day Apple will see the light and allow Apple TV to connect to SAMBA servers. I can’t even get a straight answer out of Apple on this subject so if anyone out there knows what the problem is please share lol
If Apple TV comes with hardware/software combination that allows it to be decent gaming console platform besides video, music streaming set-top box. Need safari for quick browsing on large TV. I am sure it will be future home entertainment Home-kit Hub consolidating all living room and home gadgets, security control functions. .
I hope this new service doesn’t ruin http://beatsimporter.com !!! they’ll probably change the API on me and make me redo the whole thing.. :-)