While nothing has been confirmed officially, reports suggest that Apple will soon be closing down the Beats Music streaming service that it had acquired earlier in the year, or at the very least, cause the service to be rebranded.
A number of unspecified sources reportedly told TechCrunch of the apparent demise of the Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine-founded service, though the timing of the alleged shutdown is as yet unclear.
However, following the TechCrunch reports, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told Re/Code that the reports were "not true," though he did not add anything further.
TechCrunch points to Beats Music not being pre-loaded onto the newly launched iPhone 6, as a number of Apple-related apps have been, as a clue that the parent company is closing the shutters on the service. Additionally, Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers had been put in charge of Apple's streaming service iTunes Radio in August, effectively splitting his focus from Beats Music proper.
Apple had acquired Beats Electronics last May, paying $3 billion for the company and bringing Dre and Iovine into the Apple company in the process. The company launched last January as a competitor to similar services around the globe, including Spotify, Rdio, Google Music and Pandora.
While Beats had been offering free trial subscriptions, only 250,000 had signed up for a paid subscription by the time Apple picked up the company in May.
The acquisition also brought the Beats series of headphones under the Apple umbrella, with future versions of the product set to come with a lightning connector over the traditional stereo jack.
A number of unspecified sources reportedly told TechCrunch of the apparent demise of the Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine-founded service, though the timing of the alleged shutdown is as yet unclear.
However, following the TechCrunch reports, Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told Re/Code that the reports were "not true," though he did not add anything further.
TechCrunch points to Beats Music not being pre-loaded onto the newly launched iPhone 6, as a number of Apple-related apps have been, as a clue that the parent company is closing the shutters on the service. Additionally, Beats Music CEO Ian Rogers had been put in charge of Apple's streaming service iTunes Radio in August, effectively splitting his focus from Beats Music proper.
Apple had acquired Beats Electronics last May, paying $3 billion for the company and bringing Dre and Iovine into the Apple company in the process. The company launched last January as a competitor to similar services around the globe, including Spotify, Rdio, Google Music and Pandora.
While Beats had been offering free trial subscriptions, only 250,000 had signed up for a paid subscription by the time Apple picked up the company in May.
The acquisition also brought the Beats series of headphones under the Apple umbrella, with future versions of the product set to come with a lightning connector over the traditional stereo jack.
