Beats co-founder and Apple employee Jimmy Iovine speaks at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Monday, June 8, 2015. The maker of iPods and iPhones announced Apple Music, an app that combines Beats 1, a 24-hour, seven-day live radio station, with an on-demand music streaming service. Credit: Jeff Chiu / ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some of Apple’s product presentations shake the entire tech industry and make the public salivate with expectation at new iPhones or new products (Apple Watch, iPad). This was not that, but that doesn’t mean what was presented was not significant.
On Monday, Apple presented some new products at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, but strictly on the software side. While there were no new Macs, iPhones or an update of the Apple Watch, the operating systems behind each of those systems is getting a revamp and Apple launched its expected Music service, which will compete with Spotify and Google Play Music to offer all-you-can-eat music streaming for $10 a month (with a three-month free trial to start), launching June 30. Apple Music will also be available for Windows and Android devices in the fall.
Apple’s Music move is a response to the shift from downloading paid music to streaming that companies such as Spotify have helped make popular. Apple also acquired Beats, a music service and audio product business, as part of that shift and on Monday announced a curated, 24-hour radio station called Beats 1.
Apple also announced its next Mac OS software, dubbed "El Capitan," improved software for its latest hardware product Apple Watch and iOS 9 for iPads, iPods and iPhones, bringing improved Siri features, side-by-side multitasking for iPads and revamped Maps, Notes and Newsstand apps (now just called "News").
Apple says iOS 9 will take up less space on devices and that apps such as Siri will have improved performance and that the operating system will improve battery life on its devices.
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