Last year saw Apple take its streaming music service to the Android platform. The beta of Apple Music for Android was promised at the launch of the $10/month service, and arrived in November 2015. This week's update has seen the long-requested feature of offline listening arrive in the Android app, and with it comes a curious quirk between the platforms. Apple is finally using microSD on a smartphone.
Apple Music uses Apple's iCloud cloud service, and the strategic hope still appears to be built around getting users signed up to the cloud and build a soft lock-in around playlists and music downloads. This would influence the decision on the 'next' smartphone purchase of those Android users towards an iPhone.
Unlike iTunes arrival on Windows in the first decade of the 21st century, Apple worked hard to make Apple Music for Android look like an Android application, using Material UI elements and Android conventions. This creates a smoother application on an Android smartphone, but it misses an opportunity to present the 'cleaner' iOS UI to Android users. iTunes on Windows started out by ignoring all of Microsoft's conventions, and Google's own iOS apps brought over the Material UI design rather than bow to the iOS style guide.
Apple's latest release of Apple Music for Android adds in the ability to download tracks, albums and playlists for offline listening. That means using external storage - a first for Apple on a smartphone - and audiophiles should be able to cram a ridiculous amount of music onto the latest 256GB storage cards supported by devices from LG and Lenovo (under the Moto brand). Which puts the maximum storage of 128GB on the current iPhones into the shade.
Right now, the microS-using update to Apple Music for Android simply highlights one of the biggest unique selling points of the Android platform compared to iOS device. There's going to be a lot of iPhone fans looking at Apple's utilisation of microSD on Android and wondering why Apple won't consider the storage expansion for its own smartphones.
Once more I have to ask, what is Apple trying to achieve in spending resources on Apple Music for Android? Yes, it gets to own the last few feet between a device and a users ears, and yes it can land the $10 subscription that has to be shared out to the contracted parties, but where does this fit in with its overall strategy? Apple is a possessive company and wants to get users into its full ecosystem and buying Apple devices - that's where the value is.
Google wants eyeballs, and if it can't get them on an Android device it'll be happy to take them through an iOS application. Google is also strong enough to make those apps look like Android apps, to show users what the other platform can offer. Apple Music for Android could have taken that approach - should have taken that approach in my opinion - and use it as a lead generating app for future hardware sales.
Instead it's making a play to get users signed up to iCloud and... then what? Unlike Microsoft, which is putting software services first and hardware sales second, Apple is still leading with hardware. Apple Music is a tool that you would expect to lead a software charge, but there's no second wave or further apps to support this strategy.
With the update to the Android client, Apple is offering Android users another reason to stay on Android, and making it easier and more attractive for iOS users to move back to Android. An opportunity to be ruthless and bring over users from a rival platform has been missed.
