Apple Inc. Aims High For Streaming Music Business

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL aims to sign up 100 million users to its streaming music service unveiled Monday at a developers' conference in San Franciso. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_APPLES_SHOW?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-06-08-00-25-12 Apple Inc. acquired a streaming music business as part of its $3 billion purchase last year of Beats Electronics. Apple valued Beats' music business at about $500 million. http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-paying-just-under-500-million-for-beats-music-streaming-service-140140328itunep Beats Music had just 303,000 U.S. subscribers as of December, compared to 4.7 million in the U.S. for market leader Spotify, according to the Associated Press, which reported Apples's goal of 100 million users Monday. The new service, under the moniker Apple Music, will revamp the existing iTunes Radio by adding live disk jockeys, according to a report in USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/06/08/apple-music-takes-on-spotify-pandora-and-others-in-battle-for-streaming-fans/28691023/ "Algorithms can't do it all. You need the human touch," Apple's Jimmy Iovine said, according to the newspaper. Apple will retain Beats Music subscription fees of $10, according to multiple reports. Sales from Apple's iTunes have been declining recently, and Apple's entry into streaming music has stirred speculation on whether the company can compete with entrenched companies like Spotify. But regardless of the answer, Apple's core business remains hardware. "It doesn't really matter," MarketWatch columnist David Weidner wrote of Apple's streaming music prospects. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-why-apples-music-service-could-flop-2015-06-08 "For investors, it would be wise not to get caught up in the forecasts and hype," Weidner said. "Profits are the one thing that Apple knows how to stream better than any of its rivals."