Apple will bundle its Beats subscription music service into its iOS operating system early next year, making the paid-for app available on hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads – and ramping up pressure on Spotify, the market leader in music streaming.
The move represents Apple’s first attempt to capitalise on Beats since buying the headphone maker and streaming service from Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine for $3bn this year. The inclusion of the streaming service, which transmits songs over the internet without having to download them, in a software update could happen as early as March, according to people familiar with the situation.
It will be Apple’s first big push into subscription music at a time when iTunes downloads are falling and some high-profile artists such as Taylor Swift remain sceptical about the economics of streaming. Apple declined to comment.