Apple Music for Android is surprisingly popular

Apple’s ‘Show Time’ event highlighted that under CEO Tim Cook, it is going to use its massive device install base to double down on selling content to users to help drive profits. To do this, the company has indicated a willingness to expand on to platforms once thought would never happen. This includes the new Apple TV app debuting on Samsung TVs followed by other TVs from LG, Sony and others. It will even make its way to Amazon Fire TV and even Roku boxes. It started this process, however, by making an Apple Music app for Android.

That said, the Apple Music app on Android exists, at least in part, because it was the successor to the now defunct Beats Music app on Android. When Apple acquired Beats in 2014, it also acquired the Beats Music app and its curation team. This evolved into Apple Music on the iPhone as well as Android. Surprisingly, perhaps, Apple Music has now been downloaded by Android users over 40 million times. It also has an average rating of 3.5 stars with over 280,000 ratings, which isn’t too bad either.

In fact, since its launch on Android in late 2015, it has been averaging around 2.5 to 3 million downloads per month and is also on something of an uptick at the moment. Undoubtedly, the free 3-month trial of ad-free music and exclusive video content has significant appeal. However, with around 56 million active Apple Music subscribers, it is clear that most of these users terminate their account after the 3-month trial period ends. That said, it is still a potential avenue to gaining additional revenue.

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Apple’s ‘Show Time’ launch was that there was no announcement or any indication that its Apple TV app will also make its way over to Android mobile as well. Given that Apple is creating an Android TV port for Sony, a Tizen port for Samsung, a webOS port for LG, and an Apple TV app for Roku, it seems like it will be just a matter of time before we do see an Android version. Unless, of course, it thinks it can sell more iOS devices by keeping it exclusive.