iOS 8.4 in Development With Possible Support for New Music Service

[mazz0]

Pff to all that! Where's this cool split screen mode for iPad? I bet they're restricting it to the big giant new one

I'd be more interested in multiple iPad users, to be honest. Wouldn't affect me, but I know households that can't afford multiple iPads but which include multiple users.

 

[TC03]

It seems to me Apple decided to release new features all around the year rather than once a year. Seems like a good choice to me, it's impossible to have everything finished and polished at the same time without things being rushed or buggy.

 

[jlnr]

Nah, if iOS 9 would be the snow leopard of iOS then Apple would drop support for 32 bit iphone in the next iOS version just like lion drop rosetta for powerpc.

10.4 was the last version to support Classic apps, 10.5 was the last version to support PowerPC, 10.6 was the last version to support 32-bit Intel CPUs, 10.7 was the last version to support Macs with some 32-bit drivers(?). I don't think the analogies are going to help us figure out which devices Apple will drop support for

Even if they only cut off the iPhone 4s, that means we developers (Apple included) have one screen size less to care about. For non-gaming apps, that's big.

That said, I wish they'd just keep on updating iOS 8 for another year. There's no need to bump the version to 9 and cut off any device if they are going to optimise performance. Just give me a rock-solid iOS 8 SDK and get 95% of users on board...

 

[thekeyring]

And shortly after. "iOS 8.5 is being seen in our web logs indicating Apple is already working on.........."

Haha. Have we ever got to a x.5 with iOS? Or x.4?

 

[lowercaseperson]

I think it's going to be a rough road trying to convince people to ditch Spotify for Beats. The inability to create lists as in Spotify alone is a non-starter. No free version is also a non-starter. For these two main points I don't see it at all.

Now, if Apple takes the Spotify approach full cloth, then they have a better shot. Otherwise, it's dead on arrival.
Honestly, who would give up what they have on Spotify for a far lesser offering?

Can anyone familiar with the acquisition explain what Apple can and cannot do? Personally I imagine Apple completely reworking Beats into iTunes and more or less mimicking Spotify/Google Play while almost entirely dropping the Beats name. I mean for most people already in the iOS system, I would think the iTunes brand carries a lot more weight than Beats. The only real difference I see between what Apple is likely trying to do vs. Spotify is that I would assume you could still purchase a song on iTunes if you liked it enough. No expert here, just what's in my head....

 

[Zxxv]

There's no advertising on Beats...

You misunderstand. Your paying for them to advertise music to you. When you find something you like you buy it. Kids today are dumb.

 

[bushido]

most definately US only so Spotify competion my ass. they havent even managed to expant iTunes Radio yet after over 2(?) years

 

[zorinlynx]

Why do they need a special OS version for a music service? Why not just develop an app? Not only that, but with an app you can just update it independently of the OS and keep development moving quicker.

 

[cmChimera]

Marketing.

I'm pretty sure Apple can manage marketing iOS 9 with or without this service, and users will not be opposed to having a new (hopefully good) feature dropped on them in the summer.

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In my mind all the more reason to simply include it as the main feature of an iOS release that is (apparently) lacking in new features. It's being worked on...probably going to be announced at WWDC or +/- a few months....why not just use it to promote iOS9? The average consumer won't give two hoots about "optimization" but would be intrigued by an all new streaming service with Siri control....just my 2 cents.

That being said - bring it on as an 8.4 release...the less I have to wait for the new features the better.

Your last statement is pretty much the sentiment I imagine people to have. Instead of "next year when they update" It's "I keep getting these features through the year." Seems like a win-win to me.

 

[Karma*Police]

For as much as they spent to acquire Beats, I'm sure they will make a big deal out of it.

Personally I'm just tired of paying more monthly fees for various services.

I agree. Their music service/options needs to take a holistic approach... iTunes Match, radio and streaming should be unified in a way that makes sense from a usability and pricing standpoint.

While they're at it, iTunes should be broken up on the Mac into multiple apps: music, videos, podcasts, iTunes Store (easily accessible from other apps) and a dedicated sync app that also runs in the background so I can drag and drop files to/from my iPhone.

 

[newagemac]

I agree. Their music service/options needs to take a holistic approach... iTunes Match, radio and streaming should be unified in a way that makes sense from a usability and pricing standpoint.

While they're at it, iTunes should be broken up on the Mac into multiple apps: music, videos, podcasts, iTunes Store (easily accessible from other apps) and a dedicated sync app that also runs in the background so I can drag and drop files to/from my iPhone.

The reason why iTunes is bloated with syncing features and can't be broken up the way you describe is because of Windows. Apple could easily do this on Mac but since they continue to provide a version of iTunes for Windows, they are handicapped at the moment because they obviously can't bake the sync functions into Windows itself. And nobody is going to be downloading multiple different apps and services on their Windows PC just to get everything to work and sync right. On the Mac, these apps and services could just be built in.

The best thing to happen to Safari was dropping support for Windows. It's been getting increasingly better ever since. Best browser by far now in my opinion. Really good things happen in software development when you can narrow your focus.

 

[cwwilson]

8.4? Man, I must be really behind on the times sitting here on 8.1.3

 

[SlCKB0Y]

probably because iOS 9 is going to only be for 64 bit users, but Apple still wants beats subscription numbers to go up, so 8.4 will be the last iOS update for 32-bit hardware.

Not going to happen.

They are still selling the iPhone 5c, iPad mini and until a few months ago Apple was still selling iPad 4. All of Which use 32bit processors.

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I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped supporting 32bit iOS devices (A5, A6) in iOS 9. They might support them, but they might not. I look at it that these 32 bit devices are near or already 2 years old, and by the time iOS 9 rolls around, all iOS devices with A5 & A6 will be 2 years old. Apple dropped PowerPC support pretty much 3 years after shipping the last PPC device...

It doesn't matter how old the devices are, what matters is that Apple is still shipping devices with 32bit processors.

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If you were to add up the total space Apple apps take up, it would be quite small....

Based on what?

 

[psylence2k]

Can anyone familiar with the acquisition explain what Apple can and cannot do? Personally I imagine Apple completely reworking Beats into iTunes and more or less mimicking Spotify/Google Play while almost entirely dropping the Beats name. I mean for most people already in the iOS system, I would think the iTunes brand carries a lot more weight than Beats. The only real difference I see between what Apple is likely trying to do vs. Spotify is that I would assume you could still purchase a song on iTunes if you liked it enough. No expert here, just what's in my head....

They own betas so they can pretty much do whatever they want with it.

You misunderstand. Your paying for them to advertise music to you. When you find something you like you buy it. Kids today are dumb.

Uhhh no, the vast majority of people pay for a streaming service so they dont have to pay for music separate. I'm sure most people think it's dumb to pay for music when you're already paying for a music service. It's the same reason why kids today would rather listen to their favorite song streamed from their free Youtube app over 100 times without ever planning to buy the song. I've never even heard or seen anyone view music streaming services the way you just described.

most definately US only so Spotify competion my ass. they havent even managed to expant iTunes Radio yet after over 2(?) years

They're more than likely gonna roll it out everywhere eventualy. It's not as much of "we're trying to mainly compete with Spotify move" as it is them just trying to evolve Itunes in order to evolve the entire user experience with their products. It's for the bigger picture.

Why do they need a special OS version for a music service? Why not just develop an app? Not only that, but with an app you can just update it independently of the OS and keep development moving quicker.

because features can be much more convenient and efficient when built into the OS improving the overall user experience substantially. Imagine how annoying it would be to open an app to use Siri ? or not have access to app info in your widgets or not have the control center for shortcuts ? If you're someone who's gonna be using beats as your main music source it will be a HUGE improvement to be able to use it via Siri and other shortcuts without having to open up the app. Imagine not even having to change your screen but just have Siri change your music in the background while you continue doing whatever, Imagine being able to just swipe up your Control Center and have direct full access to the music ? that would be a HUGE advantage over Spotify and ultimately just a huge plus for the IOS experience.

 

[coolfactor]

Maybe in ios 8.9 they'll fix safari.

Elaborate.

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You misunderstand. Your paying for them to advertise music to you. When you find something you like you buy it. Kids today are dumb.

You misunderstand. They are providing a music service, and if you want to retain a song permanently in your library, you buy it. How is that difficult to understand? Running these services are not cheap. They cost money. Do you expect to get music for free?

 

[mitty]

I love how Macrumors always posts those graphs of visits to the site, but without a number on the vertical Axis it's essentially meaningless.

 

[cdm283813]

Eh... iOS-news day...?

iOS 8.2 beta
iOS 8.3 beta
iOS 8.4 beta
iOS 9 beta

Never seen that before!

Apple needs to take a page from Motorola and start decoupling these apps from the operating system. Even the Android Wear app is separate from the primary OS. I’ve told my wife not to upgrade unless I give the green light but it’s gotten ridiculous with all these operating system updates. On one side my Note 4 only received 2 updates since I got it new but with my wife’s iPhone 5 it’s been updated countless times after iOS 8.0 dropped and both of us are getting tired of it.

 

[thekeyring]

I love how Macrumors always posts those graphs of visits to the site, but without a number on the vertical Axis it's essentially meaningless.

As they've said before, they don't want to give away any idea on how many people visit the site.

 

[entropi]

Oops, it just dawned on me...

The current bloated iTunes will never be fixed, just keept as an incentive to lure us over to a new, more streamlined musicplayer/service, "beats"-something... =O

 

[shandyman]

And shortly after. "iOS 8.5 is being seen in our web logs indicating Apple is already working on.........."

Sometimes I wonder if someone at Apple is just screwing with Macrumors by doing this. Just once, it would be funny to freak them out by randomly faking iOSX and watch Macrumors melt....

Oops, it just dawned on me...

The current bloated iTunes will never be fixed, just keept as an incentive to lure us over to a new, more streamlined musicplayer/service, "beats"-something... =O

iBeats?

 

[s2mikey]

Pff to all that! Where's this cool split screen mode for iPad? I bet they're restricting it to the big giant new one

I'd be more interested in multiple iPad users, to be honest. Wouldn't affect me, but I know households that can't afford multiple iPads but which include multiple users.

Not happening. It's an iPad , not a we pad. I don't get why everyone tries to mold the iPad into something it's not and was never intended to be. It's not a laptop and shouldn't be viewed as one. I'm just saying.

As for a music service..... Does the world need another music service? It's like video streaming where there are plenty of options and no need for more. IMO.

 

[manu chao]

I would think the streaming service would be the logical flagship feature of iOS9. Why release it as iOS8.4?

Because otherwise iOS 9 wouldn't be the much clamoured for feature-less stability release.

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Jeeze... iOS 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, and 9.0 all in simultaneous development...

I feel bad for the guy who gets to do the code merges.

I would guess iOS 8.4 has the same code base as 8.3 with just some additional features added/activated. And iOS 8.2 must be almost frozen by now with only minor changes being made or none at all if the current testing doesn't reveal any issues. It would only those minor changes that would need to be merged into 8.3.

 

[phrehdd]

Well looks like Apple is going down this commercial path of profit. Nothing new here folks... let's keep walkin' .

 

[manu chao]

Why do they need a special OS version for a music service? Why not just develop an app? Not only that, but with an app you can just update it independently of the OS and keep development moving quicker.

The music library in iOS is something other apps can access (like photos, contacts, videos, etc.). Integrating it with a streaming service might require changes to the underlying library structure and not just an additional app that sits on top of it.

 

[shandyman]

Well looks like Apple is going down this commercial path of profit. Nothing new here folks... let's keep walkin' .

Going? They are down the path and past the gate. They're a business, course they're after profit. When haven't they been?

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The music library in iOS is something other apps can access (like photos, contacts, videos, etc.). Integrating it with a streaming service might require changes to the underlying library structure and not just an additional app that sits on top of it.

Exactly this. They're most likely making streaming fully part of the Music app, which is baked into iOS. They'd never remove the Music app, since it's part of the core apps of the phone.