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Beats revamp still debuting at WWDC, global release late-June, iOS 9 details revealed

According to a report today from Billboard, Apple does not have the deals in place to launch its long-awaited Beats Music revamp as its new streaming music service. The report quotes a source as saying “June won’t be the release date. The deals aren’t done,” but our sources say that an announcement at the June 8th WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) keynote is still planned. A few weeks following the announcement, in late June, Apple will fully release the service as part of two new software products: iOS 8.4 and iTunes 12.2, according to sources briefed on the plans…

iOS 8.4 “Copper” has been in the hands of developers with an entirely new design for the Music application for the past several weeks, while the new Apple TV and Mac apps are still not ready for primetime. Sources say that iOS 8.4 development is winding down within Apple and that the service’s release in limited beta for developers and press is expected at WWDC. Notably, sources say that the new streaming music service, in addition to a revamped version of iTunes Radio, will launch in a “long list” of countries in late June. Until then, iTunes Radio would have been in solely the U.S. and Australia. The new iTunes Radio will also include unlimited skipping as part of a paid bundle.

The beta version of iOS 8.4 in the hands of developers is only a taste of the new design, according to sources, and the different options and tabs across the application will be tweaked to better feature streaming music over music stored offline. Sources said earlier this year that the new Beats-based application will include porting of existing Beats accounts, curated playlists, and the ability to save tracks for offline listening. While Apple initially hoped to charge $8/month for the service, roadblocks from the record labels have reportedly pushed the price back to the existing $10/month.

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Apple is also turning full attention to polishing up iOS 9 “Monarch” ahead of its WWDC introduction, which sources now say will include a redesigned Siri application that closely mimics the more colorful user interface of Siri on the Apple Watch. We’re also told that the new release has a default wallpaper made up of a blue and green color scheme. Apple has also been working overtime on major security improvements. We’ll have more details on Apple’s plans for WWDC, including more details on the new Apple TV, Web TV service, and OS X 10.11 “Gala”, as the conference approaches.

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Comments

  1. J.latham - 9 years ago

    Just as a question, what was the code name for iOS 8? Was it a butterfly as well or is this possibly a hint of iOS 7’s design language being refined even further? Either way, really hope they adds hidden segmented control to toggle between music “on this device” and “all music” at the top of the My Music section.

  2. Thomas Yoon - 9 years ago

    I’m on the 8.4 beta, and it’s true that I don’t see any other changes aside from the new Music app. However, this revamp is gorgeous, and I love it. Having an ‘Up Next’ option to make a setlist on the go is worth it on its own, but there’s a slide-in and out drawer for Now Playing along with a view of your newly added music. It’s the stuff I love about the recent iTunes that is incorporated here that makes me a bit sad that I don’t use the Music app as much anymore since I control everything through my Watch now.

    One thing I noticed is that landscape view does nothing on the Music app. I’m wondering if they’re planning yet another version of their album view.

    • nono68200 - 9 years ago

      I think album view will be removed for future. I used vertical view a lot when I was younger, but it’s not very practical to use I think. It’s would be good to have a sondage to know how many people use the verticale view on the music app for now…

    • cmonmun - 9 years ago

      The new music app looks nice, but seems to have removed some functionality I used to use in the old app, and added some horrible UX interactions

      There doesn’t seem to be a way of, when listening to a track, see all the other tracks from that track’s album – something I used to use all the time.

      Also, when looking the Song list for instance, the need to drag up to get the a-z shortcuts to appear, then drag down to actually scroll through is horrible. Simply doesn’t feel right.

    • In the 2nd beta, when you rotate to landscape mode it puts the artwork on the left and the controls on the right. Much better than that coverflow nonsense.

      Also, other changes to 8.4 include a revamped Books app…

  3. anthonyharris7 - 9 years ago

    Will it bring collapsed album view to prevent infinite scrolling when viewing an artists albums?

    • galley99 - 9 years ago

      If you’re referring to browsing by albums (rather than tracks) like you can in iTunes, then that would be a most welcome feature!

      • J.latham - 9 years ago

        Man, that would be a god send.

      • anthonyharris7 - 9 years ago

        I kind of mean when youre in the “artist” tab and click on an artist all their albums come up. instead of showing the individual albums you see all of the tracks from all of the albums. I guess you would call it “expanded album view”. I would like to get back to ios6 where it would just show the different albums then you just click the album to get to the song.

      • J.latham - 9 years ago

        That’s what I took it as Anthony. Also adding the option to change the sort back to oldest-newest would be nice.

  4. peteostro - 9 years ago

    Any apple watch updates?, 3rd party native apps?

  5. I reckon they will announce new iMac’s – and frankly I can’t wait.

  6. Sami Mustaklem - 9 years ago

    Quick question, when the Macbook was released Apple updated the 13-inch Macbook Pro but left the 15-inch as is. Any chance that will be upgraded at WWDC? New design?

  7. Michael Perry (@Alticus) - 9 years ago

    Man iOS 9 sounds like a snooze fest :( Focus on security and new siri? They were making such great strides to bring feature parity in areas where they fell behind the competition and one more feature packed release could have really made a great release for current customers and possible switchers in terms of functionality (fixing the mess that is the document picker and share sheets for 1 and make it actually use). Sounds like an iOS 8.5 release rather than an iOS 9 release so far.

    • Ryan Morano - 9 years ago

      This is all speculation at this point. I’m sure Apple has quite a few things up their sleeves. This is just all that has “leaked”. Not to mention, we’re still 5 months away from an official iOS 9 release.

    • charismatron - 9 years ago

      Apple has suffered complaints from many users that the user experience and the whole “it just works” business could really use some attention. The problem with WWDC is balancing what’s necessary with some jazz–too much of the former is a relief but boring, and too much of the latter is exciting but often valueless. It’s a fine needle to thread.

      I’m sure they’ve got a bit of both and some totally unexpected stuff.

  8. Jared (@GunningGunny) - 9 years ago

    Omg! A blue and green color scheme! :) Exciting lol

  9. drhalftone - 9 years ago

    I said it before, and I’ll say it again. A new Beats service, integrated into iTunes, will never happen. Any rumors published here are just click bait.

  10. Here is hoping for a new Mac Pro soon hopefully at WWDC

  11. AirDJ31 - 9 years ago

    Lulz. And I was just saying I was proud of myself for not complaining about my music app and its bothersome bugs with incorrect song tagging and missing album covers while thinking I could actually make it to WWDC when 8.4 possibly gets released. Good grief.

  12. Steve Grenier - 9 years ago

    I’m confused, is iTunes Radio and Apple’s integration of Beats separate or the same? I always thought they were the same but now I am getting the impression they are different. Other having no free tier, and curated playlists, what exactly is the difference?

    • From what I’ve gathered, it seems that iTunes Radio will mean in the music app, and Beats will come along side of that. Beats will be the premium content, while radio will remain like Pandora. I really do think that Apple will kill off the name “Beats Music” and change it to “Apple music”. Thus, the icon will stay the same, but give you more listening options than ever before. My only hope is that they allow grandfathered users to remain on the plan that beats had with AT&T. I am getting Beats for Family for 14.99 a month. That gives us 5 users and 10 devices. I personally use Spotify more, but the rest of the fam uses beats. I can see Apple squashing this for a $9.99 /user price point or $29-$39 for family. I guess we shall see…

  13. I do think that there will be a so called “theme change” in iOS9. The flat will get flatter, and the translucent may appear to go “whiter”. If Jony has anything to do with it, they will look at elements like Google’s Material Design, and incorporate little tidbits to make it their own. iOS9 does need stability. There are still several things in 8 that need fixing. Can’t wait to see what the end product looks like.

  14. armure (@armure_case) - 9 years ago

    The wireless charging is really missing in the iPhones. And the small battery size obliges to get a battery case for big users or gamers. It’s why in my situation I use the Armure Case which compensate all these weaknesses. This one: http://igg.me/at/armure/x/9444362