During Mondayās introduction of Apple Music at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple said āover 100 countriesā will have access to its music-streaming/social/radio platform when it launches June 30. But it didnāt say which countries those would be.
Weāve done some investigating, and weāre pretty sure weāve got a good idea of whoās definitely getting their dance on. Check out our map below.
They probably shouldn't have stopped at one. Photo: Apple
Appleās two-hours-plus keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this week was packed with new and exciting information about the future of software for its current major hardware. But we couldnāt help but notice some things that were missing.
Here are some of the ways Appleās presentation left us hanging this year.
The only way to get Apple Music on Android is to pay up. Photo: Apple
Steve Jobs hated Android so much he once said Apple would never make an iTunes app for Android because he didnāt want to do anything that would make Android users happy. At yesterdayās WWDC keynote, Tim Cook sang a different tune by announcing Apple Music would be available on Android too. What he didnāt say was everyone with an Android phone is going to have to pay. Even for the free features.
I wanted to love Apple Music, I really did. It had all the potential in the world, and with all the hype surrounding the WWDC keynote, I watched with cautious optimism. Ultimately, though, I was disappointed. Hereās why.
Apple maps out its future each year during WWDC at San Francisco's Moscone Center. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Every other year Apple releases an āSā version of the iPhone. Later this year, weāll see the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. The āSā models generally deliver modest improvements ā better cameras, better networking, faster chips. But the basic design remains the same. The āSā suffix means the same, but better.
And so it goes with this Mondayās Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. In terms of announcements of import, WWDC 2015ās kickoff was an āSā upgrade. It built on the spectacular announcements of last year, but didnāt break huge new ground.
And thatās OK. āSā upgrades are often underrated.
Eddy Cue demos Apple Music at WWDC 2015. Photo: Apple
Apple Music may be a streaming service, but you wonāt always need an Internet connection to enjoy it. Apple has confirmed that youāll also be able to download songs for offline listening, so you can enjoy albums and playlists when youāre on the road without data.
Apple Music is a music service like no other. Photo: Apple
Apple Music could be the best music service for mobile devices ever created if it lives up to the hype Eddy Cue danced into it during todayās keynote, but it wonāt play nice with Internet connected speaker systems like Sonos.
Sonos speaker lovers wonāt be able to jam out on their favorite tunes through Apple Music, the company revealed in a statement today. While Sonos has been a supporter of Beats Music since 2014, the company confirmed says Appleās not ready to focus on home listening yet:
Jimmy Iovine talks up Apple Music at WWDC 2015. Photo: Apple
Appleās big idea for transforming the way we experience music is bringing a personal touch ā and a simple, unified platform ā to the tangled technological mess that musicās become in 2015. Apple Music is classic Apple: putting a human face on technology that threatens to overwhelm us.
Tim Cook brought out high-profile artists, and Appleās team of industry insiders, to show off what he called āthe next chapter in musicā today at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.
āI know your are going to love it,ā Cook said, introducing Apple Music. āIt will change the way that you experience music forever.ā
Hereās what Apple Music will bring to your ears.
Apple put on one of its biggest shows ever for WWDC this year. Not only did the conference kick off with a hilarious video starring Bill Hader, Matt Walsh, Danny Pudi and others, but they also had a series of great short videos to promote some of the companyās new products.
The new āHistory of Musicā clip might have been my favorite new video from Apple today. It showed not just how the iPod and iTunes changed music, but also tossed in nods to vinyl records, radio, and the days of burning one mixtape after another onto CD. Weāre still waiting for Apple to upload its star studded videos to YouTube, however you can get a look at the companyās āHistory of Musicā video right now.
Eddy Cue's pinkish untucked shirt struck a distracting off chord with many on Twitter.
During the part of the WWDC keynote where cool is most required, the Apple Music rollout, Eddy Cue took the stage in an untucked, salmon-colored shirt and proceeded to dance. Twitter gasped, laughed and even threw up a little as Cue extolled a new service that is supposed to be hip enough make us all dump Spotify.
Twitter followers streaming the Worldwide Developers Conference, already grumpy about the drawn-out opening, were tired and hungry when Cue and Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine took their turn onstage. Some feasted on Cueās appearance.
āEddy Cue is one undone shirt button away from getting kicked out of Margaritaville,ā wrote Jessica Misener. āEddy Cue is like everyoneās dad at a wedding, but if everyoneās dad at a wedding was 10X more excruciating,ā wrote Guardian Tech.
Tim Cook announces āone more thingā at WWDC 2015. Photo: Apple
With upgrades to iOS, OS X, Apple Pay and watchOS, Apple is ready to take its massively successful platforms to the next level.
Find out whatās in store for the Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch as Apple builds on previous greatness ā plus get an earful of a new little project called Apple Music ā as revealed today at Appleās Worldwide Developers Conference.
Come enjoy the show with us as we break down all the awesome new features and productsĀ Tim, Craig, Jony and the rest of Appleās team drop on us. The action starts at 10 a.m. Pacific, but weāll be cranking up the liveblog around 9:30 a.m.
Apple has big ambitions for its new music streaming service. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Apple is expected to announce its long-awaited music streaming service during the WWDC keynote later today, and despite tough competition from the likes of Spotify, the company has incredibly ambitious plans to sign up 100 million subscribers.
Sony Music CEO Doug Morris says Apple Music is "happening tomorrow." Photo: Midem
When Apple unveils its revamped music service Monday, it will mark a ātipping pointā for mass acceptance of streaming over downloads, predicts Sony Music CEO Doug Morris.
The new streaming service, which Morris says will be unveiled tomorrow at Appleās annual Worldwide Developers Conference, will challenge on-demand streaming services like Spotify and Rdio thanks to a very particular set of skills Cupertino has acquired over the years.