Apple Targets Music Streaming With Beats iOS Integration

All Apple iPhones and iPads are reportedly set to receive the Beats subscription music service from next year.

The development, if true, puts Apple on a collision course with music streaming giants including Spotify, Soundcloud and others.

Beats Music

It was back in May this year when Apple got its grove on after agreeing to pay $3bn (£1.8bn) for the maker of the popular Beats headphones and other audio equipment.

The purchase of Beats Electronics also gave Apple the subscription streaming music service, known as Beats Music, which is only available in the United States.

Now according to the Financial Times, which cited people familiar with the matter, from March 2015 Apple will bundle the Beats Music subscription service into an iOS update.

Apple has long rumoured to be working on a music streaming option, but this development will give Apple an instant presence in the online streaming music business, and comes at a time when downloads from iTunes are in decline.

It also comes at a time when Spotify and others continue to grow their music streaming businesses. Even Twitter got in on the deal, with its new ‘audio card’, which will allow users to play music, podcasts, and other audio direct from their timelines.

Google also revealed last week that its YouTube division will be rolling out its long awaited paid monthly music subscription service called YouTube Music Key, in order to complement the company’s existing Google Play music download service.

It is thought that Apple’s Beats Music subscription service will be rebranded with the iTunes label, and will utilise the Apple Pay payments technology to charge for monthly subscriptions. Indeed, it is expected to be incorporated somehow into the existing Music app on iOS devices.

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