As some might imagine something similar to mixing Coke and Pepsi, Apple's official music streaming app, Apple Music, has been launched on Android.
It's not much of a surprise. Apple did say that the app would be eventually available to Android when it was debuted in June. And it made a smooth transition, bringing key features it had from its iOS version.
Apple Music's Android incarnation includes the digital radio service Beats 1, "For You" recommendation feature, and the free three-month trial among others, The Guardian reported.
"If you've used it on iOS, you've used it for Android," Apple's Eddy Cue tells Billboard.
"It's a full native app, so it will look and feel like an Android app. The menus will look like Android; you know the little hamburger they use on the top. It'll definitely feel very much like an Android app," Cue said in an interview with Techcrunch.
However, the family membership and music videos from Apple Connect features are not yet available on Android's beta version of Apple Music. An Apple ID is required to use the app.
Additionally Apple Music can't play music files saved in the device.
Apple has not been kind to Android, which is why the move is raising questions. The only other Apple product released on Android was a bold app that essentially moved data from an Android device to an iOS one.
"We did this with iTunes very early on when we did it for Windows. It's really important for artists to get as broad an audience as possible, and for us it's really important because it gives us an opportunity to interact with customers who may not have experienced any of our products before," Cue explained.
However, some speculate that it is a not-so-subtle way of yanking people from Android and onto the iOS wagon. Another sensible speculation is that Apple could highly benefit from the billion-strong Android population. And with Apple Music coming relatively late in the music streaming game, it really needs the exposure.
Apple Music is Apple's answer to the industry-dominating Spotify. But, as CNET's Sarah Mitroff reported, "It is not better than what's already out there."
"Getting on Android gives Apple Music the best fighting chance to uproot its adversaries, but given its lackluster launch on iOS, I'm skeptical that it will gain many more customers on Android. Especially because Apple Music doesn't offer much more than Spotify, Google Play Music or others do." Mitroff said in her review.
Truly, Apple Music would have to work hard to get on the level of Spotify, which has more than 20 million paying subscribers and active users that amounts to more than 55 million.
Android's Google Play Music has more than a billion "installs" to its name but it comes as a "stock app" with the operating system.