A couple of months after Apple acquired Beats it was rumored that the company will shut down the service and integrate its features into iTunes. That didn’t happen but we did hear about the possibility of a new music streaming service. Things seem to have moved along since then. Apple is reportedly working on a new music streaming service that will compete with the likes of Spotify and Rdio. It will leverage Beats content and music discovery technologies.
The report from 9to5Mac suggests that Apple has decided to “deeply integrate” Beats into iTunes, iOS and even the Apple TV. It is said to be developing a new version of its Music app for iOS which is “Beats-infused,” as well as an iTunes application that brings Beats functionality to the desktop. A new app for Apple TV is also said to be on the cards.
The new service will be based upon cloud streaming and will focus on the user’s music library. Users will be able to find any song in the iTunes and Beats catalog through a new search feature, stream it and even add it to their personal library. They will have option to decide whether songs are kept in the cloud or downloaded on their devices.
Even though Beats technologies will be powering the service Apple will apply its own touches to the design. This would mean an end to the black and red theme that’s synonymous with Beats and a look that’s more in line with the design language we’ve seen from Apple on iOS.
Apple’s new music streaming service will also get a new moniker but that hasn’t been made public yet. It will be a subscription based service with Apple considering a $7.99 per month subscription plan which will under cut Spotify Premium, Rdio Premium and Google Play Music as they all charge $9.99 per month.
Perhaps the biggest change Apple would make is that it would offer an Android app for the first time that has been completely been developed in-house. Beats Music is already available for Android but it was developed by the company before Apple acquired it. For the new service Apple will extend an app to Android users as well, and it’ll make that one all by itself.
A release timeline has not been provided but given that Apple has used the WWDC stage to announce music products in the past it is possible that an announcement may come at WWDC 2015.