Apple to take on Spotify by integrating Beats streaming service into every iPhone and iPad

Apple will start integrating the Beats music subscription service into every iOS device early next year, as the battle for music streaming supremacy intensifies.

 

The paid-for Beats service will be introduced to iPads and iPhones in an iOS update that could take place as early as next March, according to the Financial Times.

 

Apple is also expecting to release its first smartwatch, the Apple Watch, early next year, but it is not yet clear whether the Beats will be included.

 

Apple purchased Beats, the headphone maker and music streaming subscription service for $3bn earlier this year.

 

This latest development marks the first time Apple has looked to push the streaming service onto its devices.

 

It follows YouTube’s important acquisition of the rights to thousands of independent artists for its paid-for music subscription service.

 

Downloads from Apple’s iTunes store has dwindled as Spotify’s popularity has grown. Last month the Wall Street Journal reported that music sales at Apple had fallen 13 to 14 per cent since the start of the year.

 

Yet Spotify has recently faced public criticism from Taylor Swift who pulled her entire back catalogue from the service which she says “fails to adequately compensate the writers, producers, artists and creators” of music.

 

Spotify has around 50m active users, 12.5m of whom are paying subscribers.