Apparently the once-upon-a-time-cash cow known iTunes isn’t doing as well as it used to. Thanks to huge decline in iTunes music sales (digital album sales down 13% + digital song sales down 11%), Apple is looking to evolve rather than become extinct. So according to Billboard, Apple is working on a pivot move to combat the rising threat of music-streaming services.
Looks like Apple is ready to expand its music services and step into the full-time streaming business.
The folks over at Cupertino are looking to create their subscription-based streaming service for music. They are currently in the early stages of talks to make this happen. This wouldn’t be a separate native iOS app either, it would be a part of the iTunes Radio app. Then they will be better equipped to combat the likes of Pandora, Spotify, Google Music, and others.
Apple is considering pulling iTunes Radio from the Music app and make it a native one. The app isn’t as big of a contender as they hoped for as iTunes Radio is only available in the US and Australia. Also, Apple is finally looking to branch out outside of the iOS + OS X territory w/ the possibility of creating an iTunes app for Android. Making it available to another mobile platform outside of iOS for the 1st time since its inception.
All of this would be part of a strategy to bounce back from their download slump. The Beyonce exclusivity was a much-needed boost but many consumers aren’t buying albums like they used to (digital or physical). They are going to cloud for their streaming services as you can listen as much as you want for monthly fee rather than buying music one song or album at a time.If this comes into fruition let’s see if Apple can pull people away for their streaming favorites.
