Apple has plans to leverage Beats to build a Spotify competitor, according to 9to5Mac.
The paid streaming music service will use Beats’ content and technology but get a new name and a fresh Apple design, say 9to5Mac‘s anonymous Apple sources. The service’s target price will be $7.99 per month. In contrast, Spotify Premium comes in at $9.99 a month; Google Play Music does too, though it originally launched for $7.99.
There are also plans to “deeply integrate” the unnamed service into iOS, iTunes and even Apple TV, according to the report.
Perhaps more importantly, Apple is said to be developing the streaming app for the rival Android OS at the same time — a first for the company. Apple has been trying to distance itself from Google, arguably its biggest competitor. But CEO Tim Cook said in 2013 that he wasn’t against developing Android apps in the right cases.
The service is leaving behind Beats’ black-and-red interface in favor of something more Apple-like. Users can merge their Beats and iTunes accounts to help with the transition, the report noted.
The technology relies on cloud-based streaming, and there’s a search feature that will let you instantly look for songs in your iTunes library but also search for streaming music.
Apple bought Beats in spring of 2014 for $3 billion. But it seems things haven’t been exactly amicable between Apple and its acquisition. Sources told 9to5Mac that the “integration is not going so well” and that it’s “a mess.”
Apple reportedly plans to launch the service sometime this year, possibly at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
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Source: Mashable.com