Why did not Apple Launch a Music Streaming Service?

Many expected Apple to announce a streaming music service these days that may permit users to stream songs from iTunes to multiple devices, abundant as they are doing with web radio services like Pandora. Apple did launch "iTunes within the Cloud" at its annual developers' conference, however the stress wasn't on streaming music. Instead, as a part of Apple's iCloud giving, iTunes can let users obtain music once and have it automatically downloaded to multiple devices, further as insured on Apple's servers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs created no mention of an online interface through that users might access this music.

Many expected Apple to announce a streaming music service these days that may permit users to stream songs from iTunes to multiple devices, abundant as they are doing with web radio services like Pandora. Apple did launch "iTunes within the Cloud" at its annual developers' conference, however the stress wasn't on streaming music. Instead, as a part of Apple's iCloud giving, iTunes can let users obtain music once and have it automatically downloaded to multiple devices, further as insured on Apple's servers. Apple CEO Steve Jobs created no mention of an online interface through that users might access this music.

Apple definitely has the technology to launch a streaming music service. In December 2009, it bought the music startup Lala, that sold "Web songs" that users had the proper to stream through their browser however not download. In March, Amazon began giving a Cloud Drive that allow users access music from multiple devices or stream it through an online interface. Google followed suit, asserting a music service to permit users to access songs through the online.

It is doable that the record labels from that Apple must license the music it sells were unwilling to permit music streaming. however another necessary issue that might have deterred Apple is mobile carriers' movement removed from unlimited information plans. A streaming version of iTunes might have massively increased the quantity of information that carriers would be expected to hold. the most important carriers within the U.S., AT&T and Verizon, each cancelled their unlimited arrange in June 2010. T-Mobile and Sprint each still supply unlimited plans. Today, T-Mobile says, the typical 4G smart-phone user consumes a couple of gigabyte of information per month. That variety might amendment considerably if a well-liked service like iTunes actually moved to the cloud.

"When the iPhone launched, it had no Netflix consumer, no Rdio, no Pandora, no streaming baseball—and AT&T was still nearly dropped at its knees," says Stephen O'Grady, an business analyst at RedMonk. "Carriers witnessed what happened to AT&T. the times of unlimited numbers seem to be numbered regardless of what."