Could Apple Music Become the Biggest Music Service Next Year?
Apple Made Headway in China and Saw PC Market Growth in 2015
Spectacular growth rate for Apple Music
Apple’s (AAPL) music streaming service Apple Music has exceeded 10 million subscribers since its launch in June 2015, according to AppleInsider. In comparison, Swedish company Spotify achieved this number in six years.
In October 2015, Apple is reported to have reached 6.5 million paid users. Due to its rapid growth rate, analyst Mark Mulligan stated Apple has “the potential to be the leading music subscription service sometime in 2017.”
Radio market has huge growth potential
Apple directly competes with Pandora (P), which currently leads the Internet radio market. Major players including Google, Samsung, and Amazon (AMZN) have started to offer these services as well.
According to Edison Research, and as shown in the above chart, the percentage of users who listen to online radio rose from 39% in 2012 to 47% in 2014. This number is expected to rise to 53% for 2015.
Apple announced music streaming and Internet radio service in June 2015
In June 2015, Apple made several major announcements at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The tech giant unveiled its much-awaited music streaming service and a 24-hour Internet radio station. It stated that Apple Music will be available on iOS as well as Google’s (GOOGL) Android devices at a rate of $10 per month. The app costs $15 per month if up to six people want to share a single account via the family plan. This service offers a three-month trial at no charge.
Apple constitutes 16% of the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT).
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