AFTER PLANS TO SCRAP BEATS MUSIC STREAMING APPLE PLANS TO INSTALL THE APP ON ALL iPHONES

Apple’s plans for the Beats Music streaming app may finally be coming into focus. After rumors that Apple would be shutting the service down completely Apple may have reconsidered and they are now seemingly doing the complete opposite, reviving the struggling service.

The Financial Times reports that Apple will be including the app in future versions of their operating system, iOS, on their devices beginning in March of next year.

The app is not expected to be free, though a trial version at the time of its inclusion in iOS is a possibility. Either way the app will be placed directly onto hundreds of millions of devices and Apple will essentially be giving it a broader audience than any other streaming service on the market.

Beats Music has mostly been a failure until now. Its subscriber numbers pale in comparison to its chief competition Pandora and Spotify. Increasing its range however may coax more users into paying for the service that as of now does not offer a free ad-supported option like its competitors.

Apple has reportedly negotiated with record labels recently to obtain cheaper licenses for their music to allow the app a cheaper price point, but these efforts have been futile thus far. Apple may have gained new leverage this week though, when Billboard announced that it would take streams into account for its charts. This effectively makes streaming services like Beats Music, which was named specifically in Billboard’s announcement of the changes, more valuable to labels and artists alike.

Only time will tell how forcing an app on users will be received by consumers.

Apple’s last stunt like that was met with groans and widespread complaints when they automatically downloaded U2′s latest album onto their devices.