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A bit of poor analysis in my view. While I have no doubt Apple Music will be popular in the long run (as new handsets become available), I saw very little in Ap

A bit of poor analysis in my view. While I have no doubt Apple Music will be popular in the long run (as new handsets become available), I saw very little in Apple's offering that was differentiated from Spotify. Pricing and features were more or less identical except for 3 months free (please correct me if I missed something). Anecdotal, I've heard no excitement from any of my normal Apple-obsessed friends about using the new service. I find streaming music apps to more sticky than I had anticipated - people have their playlists/history - and they don't want to lose this. My wife was a user of MOG (one of the few), then of Beats post-purchase. She hates the Beats interface/app, but she will not change to another service. Spotify has another important sticky factor - the desktop app - which allows you to play back both what is on your hard drive with the streaming music. This is not to say Spotify isn't doomed long term - they have, in my opinion, a fairly unsustainable business model that continues to exist only because of VC funding. They need to create a more multi-stream business - just working with the labels will put them into the ground. My guess is that they continue to evolve into a more complete media platform, and that they sign artists directly to get to a real margin. But to say that Apple will crush them reminds me of the whole Netflix/Blockbuster comparison. Now Blockbuster was no Apple - but everyone thought that they, as the incumbent, would crush Netflix. That didn't happen - because Netflix was there first and Blockbuster launched a very me-too competitor. Spotify is also focused on winning this - it's all they have - whereas Apple Music is a tiny part of Apple as a whole. Now, this could also play out like Google Maps - I believe Apple Maps now crushes GM in terms of usage - so Spotify will likely have trouble going forward if Apple Music is installed by default on every handset.

7952 11y ago
It is so hard to know what these services are actually for when they start out as a replacement for physical media. Products like Spotify are just an iteration of technology that started with records and evolved into tapes, CDs, IPods etc. But is that actually what we want? Do we want our tape player to recommend music, and have a social network? I have had accounts on at least a dozen different streaming/download services, but the place I go back to time and time again is YouTube. Not only does it have the "official" music but also live recordings and endless amateur stuff. I have offline media, but I only really use it when I have to suffer extended time without internet.
seivan 11y ago
It would cost six people $14.99 per month for Apples music service. 14.99/6 would be $2.5 per month for a single person. Spotify has something similar up to four people, but it won't even come remotely close to the same pricing. Pricing is not identical for groups.
- minthd 11y ago
  For Apple it's not exactly "groups", unless you want your friends having access to your credit card to buy apps on the store.
yen223 11y ago
"I believe Apple Maps now crushes GM in terms of usage" That's a bold claim. Are there any sources on this?
- Oletros 11y ago
  Apple Maps is used a lot more than Google Maps on iOS. It is the advantage of being the integrated application in the operating system. There is no way to make Google Maps/or any other application the default one on iOS and any map link goes to Apple Maps
  - jacques_chester 11y ago
    I suspect Apple's claim is true on iOS devices. It's a good example of marketing spin.
    - Someone 11y ago
      "Apple's claim"? I see no claim in this thread that Apple made such a claim.
      - jacques_chester 11y ago
        See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9714686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9714686
  - bdcravens 11y ago
    It's a top 10 app, ahead of Spotify, Uber, and even Apple's Find my iPhone. I'm only one datapoint, but I almost never use Apple Maps. (I'd love to see if my behavior is an outlier) Many apps are hip to this, and will give the option when they integrate.
- inthewoods 11y ago
  It's an old article - I can't imagine this has improved as Apple has rolled out new handsets/OS versions. My wife didn't even realize there was a difference - and I expect that is quite common. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/11/apple-maps-google-iphone-users http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/11/apple-maps... "But a year on, a total of 35m iPhone owners in the US used Apple's maps during September 2013, according to ComScore, compared to a total of 58.7m Google Maps users across the iPhone and Android base. Of those, about 6m used Google Maps on the iPhone, according to calculations by the Guardian based on figures from ComScore. That includes 2m iPhone users who have not or cannot upgrade to iOS 6, according to data from MixPanel." Now, that's comScore data and since I've worked in that industry and I can tell you that the data is sampled and therefore could be off by a factor - but that, combined with what Apple said at WWDC makes it more likely that Apple's data is right.
enjo 11y ago
I believe Apple Maps now crushes GM in terms of usage Out of genuine curiosity, any source for that? Do you mean crushes Google Maps on Apple phones? Or overall?
- calebegg 11y ago
  During the WWDC keynote, Apple claimed that Apple Maps had 3.5x the usage of "the next most used mapping app" (probably Google Maps), for whatever that's worth.
  - Oletros 11y ago
    On iOS, not globally
    - mcintyre1994 11y ago
      I'm actually surprised their lead is that small - maybe transit directions will stop people using Google maps on iOS though. I wonder if that's the preinstalled app the most people would replace if they could though.
  - revelation 11y ago
    Since this is from WWDC, they probably counted every Apple Maps API call and compared that to GM app uses for over 5 minutes. It's WWDC, its the keynote, its full with outrageous statistics like the many performance claims.
  - patsplat 11y ago
    Gotta admire their spin on "one fifth of our users went to the trouble of replacing a core OS feature"
    - inthewoods 11y ago
      How do you get ton one fifth of our users? Just trying to understand your math.
sirn 11y ago
> I saw very little in Apple's offering that was differentiated from Spotify There is one big difference: Apple Music will be available in my country. Apple's ability to launch 100 countries (as stated in WWDC) within a year is probably their biggest strong point. Combine that with the three months free usage, I'm more than sure all my non-tech friends will at least be trying it out once it is available.
- inthewoods 11y ago
  Great point - that is definitely a key difference and one that opens a huge number of markets if they can pull it off.

7952 11y ago

It is so hard to know what these services are actually for when they start out as a replacement for physical media. Products like Spotify are just an iteration of technology that started with records and evolved into tapes, CDs, IPods etc. But is that actually what we want? Do we want our tape player to recommend music, and have a social network? I have had accounts on at least a dozen different streaming/download services, but the place I go back to time and time again is YouTube. Not only does it have the "official" music but also live recordings and endless amateur stuff. I have offline media, but I only really use it when I have to suffer extended time without internet.

seivan 11y ago

It would cost six people $14.99 per month for Apples music service. 14.99/6 would be $2.5 per month for a single person. Spotify has something similar up to four people, but it won't even come remotely close to the same pricing. Pricing is not identical for groups.

minthd 11y ago
For Apple it's not exactly "groups", unless you want your friends having access to your credit card to buy apps on the store.

yen223 11y ago

"I believe Apple Maps now crushes GM in terms of usage" That's a bold claim. Are there any sources on this?

Oletros 11y ago
Apple Maps is used a lot more than Google Maps on iOS. It is the advantage of being the integrated application in the operating system. There is no way to make Google Maps/or any other application the default one on iOS and any map link goes to Apple Maps
- jacques_chester 11y ago
  I suspect Apple's claim is true on iOS devices. It's a good example of marketing spin.
  - Someone 11y ago
    "Apple's claim"? I see no claim in this thread that Apple made such a claim.
    - jacques_chester 11y ago
      See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9714686 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9714686
- bdcravens 11y ago
  It's a top 10 app, ahead of Spotify, Uber, and even Apple's Find my iPhone. I'm only one datapoint, but I almost never use Apple Maps. (I'd love to see if my behavior is an outlier) Many apps are hip to this, and will give the option when they integrate.
inthewoods 11y ago
It's an old article - I can't imagine this has improved as Apple has rolled out new handsets/OS versions. My wife didn't even realize there was a difference - and I expect that is quite common. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/11/apple-maps-google-iphone-users http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/11/apple-maps... "But a year on, a total of 35m iPhone owners in the US used Apple's maps during September 2013, according to ComScore, compared to a total of 58.7m Google Maps users across the iPhone and Android base. Of those, about 6m used Google Maps on the iPhone, according to calculations by the Guardian based on figures from ComScore. That includes 2m iPhone users who have not or cannot upgrade to iOS 6, according to data from MixPanel." Now, that's comScore data and since I've worked in that industry and I can tell you that the data is sampled and therefore could be off by a factor - but that, combined with what Apple said at WWDC makes it more likely that Apple's data is right.

enjo 11y ago

I believe Apple Maps now crushes GM in terms of usage Out of genuine curiosity, any source for that? Do you mean crushes Google Maps on Apple phones? Or overall?

calebegg 11y ago
During the WWDC keynote, Apple claimed that Apple Maps had 3.5x the usage of "the next most used mapping app" (probably Google Maps), for whatever that's worth.
- Oletros 11y ago
  On iOS, not globally
  - mcintyre1994 11y ago
    I'm actually surprised their lead is that small - maybe transit directions will stop people using Google maps on iOS though. I wonder if that's the preinstalled app the most people would replace if they could though.
- revelation 11y ago
  Since this is from WWDC, they probably counted every Apple Maps API call and compared that to GM app uses for over 5 minutes. It's WWDC, its the keynote, its full with outrageous statistics like the many performance claims.
- patsplat 11y ago
  Gotta admire their spin on "one fifth of our users went to the trouble of replacing a core OS feature"
  - inthewoods 11y ago
    How do you get ton one fifth of our users? Just trying to understand your math.

sirn 11y ago

> I saw very little in Apple's offering that was differentiated from Spotify There is one big difference: Apple Music will be available in my country. Apple's ability to launch 100 countries (as stated in WWDC) within a year is probably their biggest strong point. Combine that with the three months free usage, I'm more than sure all my non-tech friends will at least be trying it out once it is available.

inthewoods 11y ago
Great point - that is definitely a key difference and one that opens a huge number of markets if they can pull it off.