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Eddy Cue Talks Apple Music Subscriptions as Initial Three-Month Free Trials End

Thursday October 1, 2015 6:50 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Prior to the release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, Eddy Cue sat down with Evening Standard to discuss a handful of topics, including the launch of the new smartphones, the impending end of the first wave of free trial users for Apple Music, and the issue of roaming charges on iPhone users traveling abroad.

EddieCue
Cue also addressed the topic of the Apple Music Festival, which ended its ten day run this week in London, calling the acts nabbed by Apple for the event "the best of the best" and pointing toward the "global" feel of the UK-based festival that would perhaps be lost in another city like New York or Los Angeles. When asked about his worry for the end of Apple Music's first set of three-month free trial users -- which were charged their $9.99 subscription fee on September 30 if choosing to stick around -- Cue remained expectedly optimistic.
However, with the first batch of free three-month trials expiring this week, is he worried about subscribers drastically falling? “Ultimately, you never know until it happens,” he reasons. “But we’re pleased with the number of people who have tried. Everybody gets fixated on the short term but we’re in this for the long haul.”
Although not allowed to discuss the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in full detail during the pre-launch interview, Cue still walked Evening Standard through a few of the smartphone's new features, including the revamped version of Siri. Eventually, the Apple executive remarked on the topic of roaming data charges when traveling abroad, an issue rumored to be worked on by the company -- and later denied -- by launching its own mobile virtual network operator service in the United States and Europe.
He taps his phone and makes an offhand comment about “trying not to get roaming charges” while in London which, I note, proves how insanely expensive phone calls and data can be abroad. “It’s sad, it’s another problem,” says Cue. “We’re trying to fix it and we’re making a little bit of progress but you’ve got to convince a lot of people.” It sounds like an impossible task. But that, you would imagine, is where the famous flair will come in.
In the full interview, Cue also talks about new features of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus like Live Photos and 3D Touch, also commenting on the topic of customers wanting to delete stock iOS apps, which CEO Tim Cook himself touched on in September. You can check out the full Evening Standard interview with Eddy Cue here.

Tags: Eddy Cue, Apple Music Guide
[ 220 comments ]


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unobtainium
52 months ago
I canceled yesterday and went back to Spotify. Apple hasn't updated or fixed the UI since Music launched way back in the summer. You still can't even create a new playlist from a song or album page. Spotify also doesn't have the weird greyed out track issue.

Oh, and $4.99/mo. for students :D
Rating: 27 Votes
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malexandria
52 months ago
I cancelled after day 1. It destroyed my library. I'm not in the iTunes needs to be split into a "million" Apps camp, I think it's fine the way it is. But Apple Music definitely needs to be it's own App and completely segregated from my primary iTunes music library like all the other music Apps.
Rating: 17 Votes
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newdeal
52 months ago
clearly Apple is working on some form of cell service. There is no way that Eddie cares about a bit of roaming charges. First of all I am sure Apple pays for his phone and second he is super rich anyway so it would be nothing to him. Apples message is generally very well rehearsed so I am guessing that this wasn't as off hand as it seemed
Rating: 13 Votes
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Simplicated
52 months ago

Apple Music works great for me.

I understand some may have problems with it, but people just find stuff to complain about.

For me, it's an awesome music service for just $10 a month. If you don't like it, then don't use it.


You're telling everyone that people who have problems should just shut up and move on? How does something gets improved if nobody talks about how good/bad it is?
Rating: 12 Votes
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Rogifan
52 months ago

I know a ton of people that tried the 3 month trial. Not a single one of them liked it, and not a single one of them is going to abandon Spotify for this. Perhaps Eddy isn't the right person to be handling services. He can't ever seem to get it right.

Clearly he has too much under his responsibility. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think Cook needs to hire an SVP to oversee all of Apple's cloud business, and throw Siri and Maps in there too. Then Eddy can focus all of his time on Music, iTunes/App Store, TV and Pay.

Oh and Apple also needs to hire someone to oversee all of developer relations. Let them be responsible for developer relations, app review, evangelism, etc. Let them be the outward face to the developer community and charge them with ensuring iOS and OS X are platforms people want to develop on and develop for first. Right now this stuff is scattered all over the place (Federighi's team is responsible for APIs, Schiller's team has developer relations/app review, Cue's team is responsible for App Store etc). There should be one leader that's essentially the app "czar" at Apple.
Rating: 12 Votes
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Keane16
52 months ago
As a car driver Siri control wins me over. I'll be keeping it for that reason alone. For You has been good for me too. Overall the UI needs some sharpening up.

Also glad the topic of deleting stock apps is still being discussed by those at the top. Hopefully they find a good solution.
Rating: 11 Votes
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Mackinjosh
52 months ago
I know a ton of people that tried the 3 month trial. Not a single one of them liked it, and not a single one of them is going to abandon Spotify for this. Perhaps Eddy isn't the right person to be handling services. He can't ever seem to get it right.
Rating: 10 Votes
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timbuk2
52 months ago
i canceled my apple music subscription months ago, i never quit spotify. UI is miles ahead.
Rating: 10 Votes
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pipa
52 months ago
yeah I shut off auto renewal day one. I don't think I used it more then 5 times in 90 days. I still think they will do well but I can guarantee you retention will be under 30%. if that.
Rating: 9 Votes
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i5pro
52 months ago
What a pompous ****.
Rating: 9 Votes

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