UPDATE: One of our readers over at 9to5Google, with experience of using Betabound commented the following: “Centercode, who runs Betabound, has been around for over a decade running software/hardware betas. I have been through numerous tests with them. I understand the skepticism but this is a legit company.” Perhaps then, we can be a little less skeptical of the beta test.
Apple surprised the tech world back in June when it announced that its music streaming service, Apple Music, would be making its way cross-platform. Up until then, the company has kept all of its mobile products in-house, and hadn’t offered anything on the Google Play Store except for the ‘Move to iOS’ app – and we all know how that turned out. A company is now claiming that Apple has started beta-testing the Android version of Apple Music.
Members of Betabound.com have received emails inviting them to apply to test Apple’s music app for Android. Little detail is given in the email, except a short paragraph and a linked questionnaire which hopeful testers have to fill in. Betabound, a Centercode company, proudly labels the test as an exclusive.
We’re excited to invite you to come test Apple Music for Android. If you’re a current Android user that would like to join the beta for the new music streaming service, you won’t want to miss this opportunity. To learn more and apply, click the link below. Best of luck! The Betabound team.
Contracting out beta-testing would be a very unusual move for Apple, so we’re skeptical. While it could be suggested that the Android community’s response to its last app prompted Apple to try a much quieter launch this time, we haven’t heard of Betabound, so would be reluctant to take the company’s word for it and hand over the user data it wants in return for claimed access.
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Serious question: why is Apple even doing this? Apple shouldn’t be trying to compete with Spotify or others because there’s literally no money in streaming. What Apple should be doing is using Apple Music as a way to lock people in their ecosystem like all their other services. Making an Android version doesn’t make any sense.
it doesn’t make sense to you, but there are million of people with an Android phone + iPad and those people won’t pay for Apple Music if it’s iOS-only since you dont carry an iPad to work or wherever, but they will if they can use it in both devices
So you’re telling the richest public company on the planet they don’t know what they are doing.
Oh sorry, I’m not allowed to question the actions of a big company because every move they make is undeniably brilliant, obviously.
epicflyingcat, I’m a long time Mac user (since the mid-90s). I’m writing this reply on my 2008 15″ MacBook Pro.
But my phone is Android… a Samsung Galaxy SIII.
I want to have everything Apple, but I simply can’t afford it.
It grows the brand. If people are flocking to streaming services, Apple (and Beats by Dre) should be there, promoting it’s premium music players and headphones. They could also…afford to lose a little money but I seriously doubt that they are.
So… Are you complaining that Apple isn’t evil enough?
No money in streaming? All the money is in streaming actually.
There’s like 4 or so HUGE companies profiting from music streaming. Surely there’s some $ in it.
I wish they would just bring iTunes to android, I don’t want to subscribe to a monthly service, I’ll rather just buy music.
So I can use Microsoft, Google, or Apple’s music service on android or I could use Spotify, Pandora or something else.
I’m never going back to overpriced iPhones and iOS. If apple wants my money they need to bring iTunes to android.
You can use isyncr to sync itunes to your android. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now and minus a few hiccups it works great, and syncs two way including ratings and playlist, just like a real iphone / ipod.
That said, apple music is amazing, I prefer it over spotify because of the asian music content and with the free trial I think you should give it a shout :)
I use betabound for doing beta test (have done a few now) and i got the invite as well.
I applied because i want to see it work on another platform…., maybe if it does they will bring Imessage to android
When Apple purchased Beats they also got current paying subscribers that use the Beats app cross-platform. My family is paying $15/month now and all have Android devices. If they fail to make an Android app the current paying users would be lost. That would be pretty stupid to leave that money on the table especially since they are already currently paid subscribers. That’s just throwing money in the trash and alienating a current user base.