Among Apple's many announcements at its annual developers conference Monday, the one that took people by surprise was the launch of a radio station.
The rest of Apple's much- anticipated music service is largely a matter of feature-matching what's already out there in a neat Apple package. That's not to say the service isn't interesting, but on-demand streaming, personalized "stations" and even curated playlists are par for the course in the online music world. So is the $10 per month price tag.
But "Beats 1" is different: a global radio station that features not only a constant stream of curated music, but also real DJs. Apple has tapped three prominent names in radio — Zane Lowe in Los Angeles, Ebro Darden in New York and Julie Adenuga in London — to lead the station, which seems to have the genre distinction of "whatever we think is cool."
It's an novel idea, and one that Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine said came straight from Nine Inch Nails frontman and Beats chief creative officer Trent Reznor. DJs are important, argued Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet software and services, and their expertise is absent in modern "online radio" stations. Stations from other services, Cue said, are really just playlists. Beats 1, on the other hand, is an old-fashioned radio station and one that Apple hopes will create a community around its service.
Beats 1 edges Apple into the world of not only selling and organizing content, but also making it. And that's something the company hasn't really explored to date. Launching a radio station is a far cry from what some of its tech competitors have done in the video space — Amazon and Netflix, for example, both have studios devoted to making original content for their video services — but it does underscore the human touch to the service that Apple sees as its main differentiator.
And, at least in the music world, that concept doesn't come completely out of left field. Iovine spoke passionately about wanting to treat music as a form of art rather than just another form of data. And it's certainly true that consumers faced with a catalog of millions of songs can face a certain choice paralysis. Meanwhile, artists have argued that the all-you-can-eat buffet of music commoditizes their work in a way that's damaging to the craft. That is probably what prompted Iovine to declare that technology and art can get along, and that Apple lives in the place where they overlap.
And that was one of the main tenets of Steve Jobs's Apple.
On his blog, music industry analyst Mark Mulligan said Beats 1 shows that Apple has a nuanced strategy for music.
"Placing radio centre stage is smart, as that's how Apple will engage the early follower consumer, who will be Apple's core target (other than winning back some existing Spotify users)," Mulligan wrote. "Remember, Apple's core priority is delivering the best possible music experience to as many of its device owners as possible. A [$9.99] subscription service that works for 10 percent of them is much less interesting than a free radio service that works for 500 million of them."
He also posited that Beats 2 and Beats 3 could follow, since it's really hard to make a radio station that actually accomplishes that goal.
Perhaps with its throwback format, Beats 1 can provide Apple with the faces (and voices) it needs to sell the reputation of accessible expertise that it apparently wants to convey with its music service. It's a target demographic that has worked for it before. Apple's greatest strength, arguably, is in making the advanced and complicated easy enough for anyone to use. Beats 1 fits into that, Mulligan said. "Apple is using radio, real time broadcast and high profile DJs as a way of bringing context and meaning to internet radio for the Apple mainstream (which of course is slightly different from the broader mainstream)," he wrote.
The Washington Post
Wed Jun 10 2015
Among Apple's many announcements at its annual developers conference Monday, the one that took people by surprise was the launch of a radio station.
Sirah Nabi Muhammad SAW akan ‘lebih hidup’ selepas ini…
Penerokaan teknologi ini yang dibuat kerajaan Arab Saudi mampu mencambah pemahaman umat Islam yang mengunjunginya.
AWANI Pagi: Kesan kesihatan makan lewat malam
Benarkah dakwaan makan lewat malam boleh mengakibatkan masalah kesihatan dan obesiti, hingga wujud desakan kedai makan 24 jam dilarang beroperasi 24 jam? Ikuti penjelasannya bersama Prof Dr Norhasmah Sulaiman, Profesor Jabatan Pemakanan, Fakulti Perubatan dan Sains, Kesihatan Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Amnesty gesa universiti AS tarik balik tindakan keras terhadap protes Gaza
Dalam satu laporan, badan pemantau hak asasi mengutuk penindasan ke atas pelajar yang melakukan protes terhadap perang di Gaza.
Ruhainies mohon maaf kepada Bella Astillah, luah hasrat untuk bertemu
"Dengan rasa rendah hati, saya ingin mohon maaf kepada Bella Astillah atas segalanya yang telah berlaku."
Universiti perlu tapis aktiviti namun tidak sehingga ganggu keterbukaan, autonomi - Pakar
Abu Hafiz berpandangan ia perlu dilaksana bagi mengelakkan kontroversi khususnya membabitkan isu sensitif serta polisi negara.
'Man Kubur' tolak rasa malu, teruskan legasi ayah hasilkan kepok kubur
Dikman mengakui minat terhadap pembuatan kepok timbul sejak di bangku sekolah rendah lagi apabila sering membantu bapanya di bengkel.
UTM lancar Hab Malaysia Erasmus+
Ia bermatlamat meningkatkan kerjasama antara universiti dan diplomat yang mampu memberi panduan kepada pihak dalam sektor pendidikan tinggi.
Ancaman bom: Pusat Kargo KLIA gempar ancaman bom, rupanya laptop
Pusat Kargo Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) gempar apabila mesin pengimbas menerima bungkusan tertera ayat ancaman bom, pada Khamis
WFP: Utara Gaza diancam kebuluran kritikal
Timbalan Pengarah Eksekutif Program Makanan Sedunia (WFP), Carl Skau, menegaskan perlunya lebih banyak akses bantuan untuk mengatasi masalah kebuluran yang kritikal di utara Gaza.
Tentera AS mula pembinaan jeti sementara di Gaza
Tentera Amerika Syarikat memulakan pembinaan jeti sementara bagi penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza, diumumkan oleh Setiausaha Akhbar Jabatan Pertahanan, Patrick Ryder.
Apple dilapor kurangkan pengeluaran Vision Pro susulan permintaan rendah
Walaupun jualan pada awalnya amat memberangsangkan, momentum tidak berterusan kerana unit awal hanya dibeli oleh peminat paling tegar Apple.
Apple dilapor hentikan pengeluaran aksesori FineWoven kerana isu kualiti
FineWoven menggantikan aksesori kulit yang dilihat sebagai tidak lestari dan oleh itu tidak selari dengan sasaran syarikat yang ingin mengurangkan impak ke atas alam sekitar.
Apple dilapor sedang bangunkan model bahasa raya untuk peranti
Laporan berkenaan hal ini telah hadir beberapa kali sebelum ini, membuatkan Apple seperti kelihatan agak tertinggal dalam arena berkenaan.
Apple dijangka hadir dengan cip Apple M4 memfokuskan AI tahun ini
Apple dijangka memperkenalkan cip berkenaan pada tahun ini, melalui kemas kini untuk model iMac, MacBook Pro dan juga Mac Mini.
NC4 beri amaran ancaman serangan siber terhadap pengguna Apple
NC4 dalam satu kenyataan pada Jumaat berkata, kesan pencerobohan itu akan membawa kepada pencurian informasi serta kerugian kewangan.
Apple, Google lesenkan gambar dan video Shutterstock untuk latih AI
Selain imej dan gambar, lesen ini juga dikatakan turut meliputi pelesenan fail-fail muzik dan juga video.
Apple buang ratusan pekerja sebab projek dibatalkan
Kebanyakannya daripada projek kereta Apple yang dibatalkan, selain disebabkan pertimbangan semula projek pembangunan paparan mikro-LED.
Apple dilapor kaji pembangunan robot bantu tugasan di rumah
Namun, ia dijangka tidak akan dicapai pada dekad ini disebabkan oleh kesukaran pembangunannya.
Pasukan jurutera Apple Vision Pro dilapor beralih ke projek iPhone boleh lipat
Apple dikatakan merancang untuk melancarkan iPhone boleh lipat pada suku pertama tahun 2027.
Apple dijangka lancar iPad Pro, iPad Air baharu pada awal Mei 2024
Kedua-dua siri tablet terbaharu berkenaan dijangka hadir dengan kemas kini pada spesifikasi, dan akan dikuasakan cip Apple M.