Ondrej Holzman The music streaming service Apple Music has been running for one month and so far 11 million users have decided to try it. The first official numbers come from Apple Music's Eddy Cue. In Cupertino, they are more than satisfied with the numbers so far.
"We're excited about the numbers so far," he revealed pros USA Today Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet software and services, including Apple Music. Cue also revealed that roughly two million users chose the more lucrative family plan, where up to six family members can listen to music for 245 crowns a month.
But for two more months, all these users will be able to use Apple Music completely free of charge, as part of a three-month campaign during which the Californian company wants to attract as many people as possible. He will start collecting money from them for streaming music only after that.
However, if most of the 11 million users could be converted to subscribers when the trial period ends, Apple would have a fairly decent success, at least from the perspective of the competition. Spotify, which has been on the market for many years, currently reports 20 million paying users. Apple would have half after a few months.
On the other hand, unlike the Swedish company, Apple has access to a much larger volume of people thanks to iPhones, iTunes and hundreds of thousands of registered payment cards, so there are voices that the number could be significantly higher. At Apple, they realize that they still have a lot to work on. On the one hand, from the point of view of promotion, on the other hand, from the point of view of the operation of the service itself.
Jimmy Iovine, who came to Apple after its acquisition of Beats, was also "pleasantly shocked" by the arrival of Apple Music, where he and Dr. Dre built the streaming service Beats Music, the later basis for Apple Music. However, many obstacles still need to be resolved.
“You still have to explain to a lot of people outside the United States what it is and how it works,” explains Iovine. "On top of that, there's the problem of dealing with thousands of people who have never paid for music, and to whom we have to show that we offer something that can improve their lives," Iovine pointed out, a problem faced by competitors led by Spotify. This is still used by many more users for free with embedded ads, but Apple will not provide a similar format.
However, it is not only about targeting new customers, but also about taking care of existing ones who have already signed up for Apple Music. Not everyone experienced a completely smooth transition when switching to streaming – songs were duplicated, songs disappeared from existing libraries, etc. , to sort everything out," assured Eddy Cue.
One of Apple's top executives for USA Today then he revealed one more number: in July, there were $1,7 billion in App Store purchases. China was largely responsible for the record numbers, and developers had already been paid 33 billion dollars by July of this year. At the end of 2014, it was 25 billion.
What is she excited about? From the huge amount of all iPods, iPads, iPhones, Macs where Apple Music is pre-installed, they managed to extract only 11 million, and moreover, not a single customer paid a cent for it. In addition, people are already losing interest due to lack of detail and bugs. What will happen when the payment starts? Amazing ability to make huge positives out of nothing.
That number is a problem of gigantic proportions. Apple Music has appeared in the music player of all users of iPhones, iPads, iPod Touches and Macs... Of the X hundred million people, 11 million have tried it. Also, I personally know a few people who have tried Apple Music, but not a single one who likes it... I'm seriously curious to see the numbers after the trial period.
Otherwise, what I think was a mistake is the need to immediately tap off the automatic extension. Several colleagues at work did not activate it for that very reason. They don't want to find out where to cancel it. And at the same time, they don't want to pay for something after three months just because they forgot to cancel it. Sure, it's about laziness. But if millions of people are going to think like that, then it's quite a problem for Apple.
I turned it on, I tried, I didn't pay and then I just turned it off. no thank you.
I used Apple Music for a few days but quickly switched back to Spotify. Somehow I don't tolerate self-harm.
It is for free. There is nothing more to add. I personally will continue to pay for Spotify