Apple is moving full speed ahead with its Services division, but is it too late for it to catch up with rivals? That’s what analysts at major bank HSBC are concerned about.
As a result, they’ve downgraded their expectations for Apple shares.
Spotify’s efforts to avoid paying higher rates is giving Apple Music a big advantage, according to a new report.
Apple is the only major music streaming company that isn’t appealing a decision to increase the rate paid to songwriters. As a result, Apple Music is getting all the love on social media.
More Americans pay to listen to Apple Music than Spotify. The Swedish company had been ahead since the iPhone maker got into the streaming music business back in 2015, but Apple finally closed the gap. And its growth is continuing to outpace its rival in the US.
Spotify still has many more paid subscribers globally, however.,
Apple Music has undercut rival streaming services in India with even cheaper subscription prices.
The cost of an individual plan has fallen to the equivalent of $1.43 per month. Apple’s changes come just weeks after Spotify and YouTube Premium landed in India for the first time.
Apple could be gearing up to bring Chromecast streaming to its Apple Music app. Several mentions of the platform have been spotted inside the latest Apple Music update for Android — but it’s not official yet.
Spotify has started testing a new Premium Duo plan for two.
The bundle offers two Premium subscriptions at a significantly discounted rate. It makes Spotify the only music streaming service to offer a couple’s plan — but it does come with some caveats.
You’d think that most of the subscribers to Apple Music would be firmly locked into the Apple ecosystem. That may be true, but new figures suggest that there are quite a few listeners on Android as well.
Figures shared by Sensor Tower‘s Store Intelligence platform suggest that 40 million Android users have installed the Apple Music app from Google Play. Not only that, but the analytics firm believes that the “current quarter will be the service’s best yet for new users on the platform.”
Apple Music’s latest update on Android finally brings native Chromebook support for the first time.
The release also includes the same user interface changes that were rolled out on iOS last week. Subscribers can access a new Browse tab that designed to make music discovery even easier.
Apple Music has updated the New Music section of its “Browse” tag to highlight playlists from a variety of genres.
While the UX tweak doesn’t fundamentally change the content of Apple’s Music app, it does make it easier to access some content.
This week on The CultCast: Apple’s “it’s show time” event is just around the corner, and this is the first event ever that focuses purely on services. Is Apple’s streaming TV service going to suck? Don’t miss our “show time” keynote predications. Plus: Leander unveils the details on his new Tim Cook book, out April 16th!
Our thanks to Squarespace for supporting this episode. Easily create a beautiful website all by yourself, at Squarespace.com/cultcast. Use offer code CultCast at checkout to get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain..
Is Apple using its control of the App Store to squeeze out rivals? That’s the question European competition regulators are looking into.
This news comes after Spotify complained that it is nti-competitive that this company is required to give Apple a big share of subscription fees paid through the App Store.
In what would have been radical change a few years ago, your Amazon Fire TV can now stream songs from the Apple Music service.
This is the latest move from the iPhone maker to allow users to access its services on hardware made by rival companies.
Spotify is giving users an even greater incentive to upgrade to its paid Premium plan. Those who pay $9.99 a month for the service can now enjoy access to Hulu — on top of tens of millions of music tracks.
Apple has quietly hired some of the most iconic album cover artists in the industry to give Apple Music its own artwork.
The undertaking is part of Apple’s effort to give playlists a uniform presentation that speaks to the music. Artists who previously worked on designs for bands like AC/DC, Migos, Boston, Ted Nugent and Blue Öyster Cult have already created hundreds of new playlist artworks, with many more on the way.
Every major music streaming service is joining together to appeal a controversial ruling that increases payouts to songwriters. Everyone except Apple Music that is.
Spotify, Google, Pandora and Amazon have teamed up to fight the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s decision to increase payouts to songwriters by 44%. Apple is the only major streamer not planning to fight the ruling, causing some artists to heap praise on the iPhone-maker for its stance.
What’s old is new again! According to a new report, U.S. music buyers now spend more money on vinyl and CDs than they do on iTunes downloads.
That’s a big fall for Apple’s 99 cents-per-track music service, which was on top of the world just a few years ago.
You know how when you get into your car, your iPhone starts autoplaying a song after you connect it to your CarPlay-enabled stereo? Who thought that was a good idea? Maybe if you could set it to autoplay the latest episode of your favorite podcast it would be a good feature. But the same song, every time?
The only good thing to take away from this is that Apple’s programmers have decided to stop destroying the planet, and no longer use cars. How else could you explain why this hasn’t been fixed?
Fortunately, you can stop the madness — and it’ll only cost you 99 cents.
It seems that rumors about Apple Music making its way onto Google Home may have been premature. After Apple Music showed up as a listening option in the Google Home app, Google has issued a statement to correct the record.
Updated: Google says this was the result of a bug, and it has “nothing to announce regarding updates to Google Home.”
Apple Music is on its way to Google Home devices. In the Google Home app for iOS devices, Apple Music is listed as a listening option. However, as of now, it can’t be linked with a Google Home device.
Apple’s streaming music service previously arrived on Amazon Echo devices in December. Between them, Google and Amazon make up the overwhelming majority of smart speakers.
The first big Apple media event of 2019 has supposedly gotten an official date.
Apple reportedly scheduled a keynote at Steve Jobs Theater for the end of March, but don’t expect to see any major hardware announcements.
Apple is reportedly taking a hard line with publishers during its negotiations for a proposed news subscription service.
Aiming to become the “Netflix of news,” Apple’s as-yet-unannounced service would give customers unlimited access to articles from popular publishers for just $10 per month. However, news organizations are reportedly balking at Apple’s proposed revenue split, which sounds downright greedy.
Valentine’s Day is fast-approaching, which means it’s time to start shopping for that special someone in your life. If they’re a fan of Apple products and awesome gadgets to go with them, Cult of Mac is here to help.
Our Valentine’s Day gift guide is full of great gift ideas that are guaranteed to put a smile on their face. We have beautiful books about Apple’s most iconic devices, the coolest cushions and T-shirts, and must-have accessories.
No matter what your budget, you’ll find something they’ll love almost as much as you. (Maybe even more?)
Spotify is closing in on 100 million paying users, hammering home its position as the No. 1 company in streaming music.
In its latest quarterly earnings, the streaming company revealed that it now has 96 million paying subscribers around the world. That’s up 8 million in three months, and 36 percent year-over-year. The company also made its first ever quarterly operating profit. But not all the news is good.
Some iOS 11 users are having trouble accessing the App Store and Apple Music, according to online reports.
The services have been unusable for over a day for a number of users who are yet to upgrade to the latest software — despite being shown as online on Apple’s System Status page. There is a weird workaround that has proven useful for some, however.
Starting Friday, Apple Music subscribers can enjoy the service on domestic flights with American Airlines without purchasing Wi-Fi.
Complete access to the service and its more than 50 million songs will be available on flights equipped with Viasat satellite Wi-Fi. American Airlines is the first commercial airline to offer the service.