Apple Music

Apple Music may have arrived a little late to the party when it launched back in 2015, but it seems to be giving Spotify, the reigning king of music streaming, a run for its money nonetheless. A new report is claiming that for the first time, the number of Apple Music subscribers has surpassed Spotify Premium subscribers in the US. That's no small task, though Apple Music still has a long way to go if it wants to catch up globally.

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Though Apple Music had something of a late start, that doesn't seem to be having a negative impact on its growth. Tim Cook is talking subscriber numbers today, and it turns out that Apple Music has added millions more users since the last time we checked in. That's particularly impressive, because the last time we were updated on total Apple Music users was only in April.

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Apple Music now has over 40m paid subscribers and up to 8m more in the pipeline, though that growth may well be despite, not because, of the HomePod smart speaker. The Cupertino company's streaming music service is playing catch-up to Spotify, having launched several years later.

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Apple Music's Jimmy Iovine will reportedly step back from the company and take on a less hands-on "consulting role," new reports suggest. The leak resurrects rumors from earlier this year that Iovine - who joined Apple Music when Apple acquired Beats Electronics and Beats Music in 2014 - plans to leave the Cupertino firm, which at the time were strongly denied by executives.

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Apple Music has 38 million paid subscribers, it's been confirmed today, as it continues to close the gap with arch rival Spotify. The number was shared by Apple's Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, at SXSW today.

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Music streaming no longer seems to be the prized cow it once was but that doesn’t mean the battle has let up in the slightest. It has just changed arenas. While mobile users are still a top priority, service providers, like much of the tech market, have shifted their eyes towards the unstoppable onslaught of smart speakers. And the way things in that market are going, it’s going to be a battle of which music streaming service has a smart speaker or can be on one, leaving the smaller players out in the cold to wither and die.

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Is Siri better than the Google Assistant, or worse than Alexa, or the downfall of Apple's HomePod, or the reason it's so good? The questions around the Cupertino company's first connected speaker are numerous and fairly predictable, just like the tests pitting one virtual assistant against another in fact. From the start I'd figured Siri makes an excellent guide through Apple Music - you can credit Apple's otherwise frustratingly tight integration between streaming service and speaker for that - but what I didn't expect was how much she would change how I listen to music.

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Apple's HomePod has arrived, and while the super-simple setup process may make a great first impression, there are a few other settings and menus it's worth getting to grips with. The smart speaker offers voice-controlled access to not only your Apple Music account but potentially to messages and more on your iPhone, too. Some users are going to love that, but others may want to know the three key settings and menus they need to get master control over HomePod. Happily, we've got you covered.

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If Apple gets anything pitch-perfect with HomePod, its new smart speaker, it's the setup process. We've got our hands on the Apple Music streaming speaker ahead of its public launch, and have been wasting no time running some of our favorite tracks through it to see how it holds up to alternatives like Sonos and Amazon's Echo. All the same, what already sets HomePod apart is just how easy it is to set up.

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Apple Music may have launched playing catch-up to Spotify, but at its current trajectory the iPhone-backed streaming service will soon overtake its rival. The news, based on leaks from inside the music industry, comes just ahead of Apple's smart speaker launch, the HomePod, which was delayed from late 2017.

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The Apple HomePod ships next week but it might already be showing some of its warts this early. Never mind that it’s late, because Apple has a knack for rewriting history anyway. Evidence, both official and not, have surfaced revealing a smart speaker that might be a tad limited compared to the rivals it will be facing. The newest one is the official list of audio sources that the HomePod will support. And while it’s a very short list, it might not be much of a problem if your entire world already revolves around Apple anyway.

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Apple has announced the iOS 11.3 developer beta, and there's plenty to get excited about for iPhone, iPad, and smart home fans. Whether you're an Animoji karaoke addict, need your regular fix of augmented reality in Pokemon GO, or just want deeper control over what's going on in the background of your iPhone, there's something that should satisfy you. While we don't know all the goodies iOS 11.3 will bring, we do know six of the biggest changes and improvements.

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