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Apple Music to get huge re-design along with iOS 10 at WWDC event in June

The new app will feature a new re-design and functionality, as well as a simplification of its existing features

Andrew Griffin
Thursday 05 May 2016 10:18 BST
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Apple is about to completely overhaul its Music streaming service, just a year after it launched.

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The company will unveil a new version of the app at its WWDC conference in June, according to reports. It will show off the new versions of iOS and Mac OS at the same event.

The new Apple Music will come with a new look, extra functions and take on the idea that the current service is too messy, according to Bloomberg. While the streaming service has picked up over 10 million subscribers in the year since it launched, it has continued to be criticised for a confusing design.

The change comes as Apple looks to focus on its services business as a way of offsetting lower iPhone sales.

The new design will feature a more black and white interface and a focus on album artwork that will together make the app look “bolder, yet simpler”, a source told blog 9to5mac.

Much of the re-design will focus on the For You feature, which is one of Apple Music’s central parts. That menu is intended to recommend people playlists and albums that they might like – but after criticism that it is too complicated, it will be simplified in an effort to make people use it more.

The Connect feature that is intended to let people follow their favourite artists will remain mostly unchanged, according to 9to5mac. While some new sharing features will be added, that central feature of the social part of Apple Music will stay the same, the site reported.

Apple’s work on Music is set to become yet more important as the company looks to build out its services businesses. After slowing iPhone sales, Apple is focusing on those businesses, which are already growing – the same division includes the App Store, iCloud and other online tools, as well as Apple Music.

What is Apple's strategy?

The re-design of the service is coming with a shake-up in the people running it, Bloomberg reported. The service is now being looked after by Apple’s content head Robert Kondrk and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, it said.

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