Apple Music hits 6.5 million paid users but millions desert service

Apple Music service now has 15 million users worldwide. The music streaming service was released back in June and was seeded to users through iOS 8.4 update. At the WSJD Live conference on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook said the figure included 8.5 million users on the free trial and 6.5 million paying users. However, as 11m people entered the debut trial period, the figures suggest millions deserted the service at the end of the initial three-month period. The service charges $9.99 per month or $14.99 per family account, which can include up to six members. The new numbers are certainly lower than the paying user base of 20 million on Spotify.

Lots of people are liking it.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook

Cook credited a human curation element - actual people who fashion playlists - for creating listening experiences superior to that delivered by “zeroes and ones” of computer algorithms. On another entertainment front, Apple will begin taking orders for new Apple TV hardware beginning on October 26 and shipments will start by the end of that week, according to Cook. Siri virtual assistant software built in Apple TV allowed for natural language searches for shows, such as asking for something funny or a certain actor by name. People should also be able to see what they want on-demand instead of being at the mercy of cable broadcast schedules.

I think it will be disruptive of the TV watching experience. This is the foundation of the future of TV.

Apple boss Tim Cook

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