On the differences between Apple Music and other streaming services: “We have music experts, just like the DJ when we were growing up…that are deciding what’s next”.
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Apple launched Apple Music on June 30 and offered every user a three-month trial period.
Of course, it’s not uncommon for people to drop something after a free trial. By Chris CookeApple Music now has 6.5 million paying subscribers, according to the tech giant’s chief exec Tim Cook, who got busy chatting about his firm’s streaming music platform during a wide-ranging conversation at a conference in California yesterday. And Apple is slowly creeping up on the more established rival streaming service.
Once Apple Music arrives on Android and begins allowing users to share playlists and tracks across social networks and the Web like Spotify does, it could give its arch enemy a run for its money. “The runway here is really good”, Cook told attendees at The Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive in Laguna Beach, CA.
“I’m finding personally that I am discovering a whole lot more music than I was before”. But 6.5 million paying customers is no small number, and Spotify will have to be on its game to see continued success in the market. For the early adopters, their trial periods are now elapsing, which Apple hopes will result in additional paid subscribers. They added features such as an iPhone-like app store, a new touch-enabled remote, the ability to simultaneously search for content across multiple video providers like HBO, Netflix and Hulu and support for Siri, Apple’s digital voice assistant.
He also discussed the current state of Apple Watch sales and why they were not giving information about it. He simply stated that they will not be revealing those numbers as it is competitive information.
Cook did not publicly acknowledge efforts by Apple to build an electric vehicle, a project which many people believe is already underway, although he did sketch out his future vision of what cars will look like.
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Until now, the general consensus on Apple Music has been that it has failed, is in the midst of failing, or will soon fail.
