Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine has offered another hint his new employers at Apple may be close to launching a dedicated streaming service.
Iovine, who sold the headphone and streaming company to Apple for $3 billion (around £1.9bn) earlier this year, told GQ that he wants to help fill Apple’s “hole in music.”
Given Apple already has iTunes downloads and the Pandora-like iTunes Radio service, it seems safe to assume Iovine is referring to a fully-fledged, Apple-forged Spotify rival.
He told the magazine: “I convinced them that they had to buy this company. I said, "I don't want to work for anybody else. I want to do this at Apple. I know I can achieve this at Apple. I don't want to shop it. I wanna come here, to Steve's company. I know you guys; I know what you're capable of; I know you get popular culture. I know you have a hole in music right now; let me plug it.”
Of course, Apple has sort of plugged the hole already buy snapping up the subscription Beats service, but as yet it has not made any significant efforts to promote it.
Recent reports over the last few months have suggested Apple may eventually rebrand Beats and fold it into iTunes, while others have claimed the company may build Beats into iOS as a pre-installed app in future iterations of the software.
Yet more speculation has suggested Apple may halve the Beats Music subscription cost in order to undercut Spotify.
Whatever Apple plans to do it seems Iovine will be at the centre of the action. How do you think Apple should tackle the streaming market? Let us know your thoughts below.
