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Business News Digital
Beats Music to become default app on iOS from March, says FT
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 20 November 2014
After the phenomenal success and universal joy that greeted U2’s new album ‘Songs Of Innocence’ when it was pushed out to iTunes users everywhere earlier this year, Apple is planning to have another go. The company will force Beats Music on all iPhone owners next year, according to the Financial Times.
Apple, of course, bought Beats Electronics – headphones, streaming service and all – back in May, and since then there has been much speculation about what the tech firm will do with its new music streaming company.
Various Apple product launches have come and gone with no mention of Beats Music. But, reckons the FT, Apple is now planning to include the app in a forthcoming update of its iOS mobile operating system. It would make the streaming software a default app for all iPhone users, possibly as early as March, though people would have to opt-in to paying monthly subs to actually get any music out of it.
The FT reckons that the service will be rebranded under the iTunes name – sitting alongside the download store and the existing iTunes Radio Pandora-style streaming service – and will remain a paid-for-only service. Presumably the hope is that by having the app pre-installed more people will click on it and sample the service, giving iTunes Beats an edge on its streaming competitors.
Though whether customers will go with the flow remains to be seen. It could annoy people if something suddenly appears on their phones without asking and immediately starts asking for money. Even U2 wouldn’t do that.
