Is Apple Finally Launching A Streaming Music Service?

It's one thing to offer downloads, it's another to offer a subscription service.  Why Apple has been slow to enter this space is unclear, but Apple may be reconsidering.  "Apple Inc has held talks with Beats Electronics LLC, the audio technology firm co-founded by influential hip-hop producer Dr Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine, on a potential partnership involving Beats' planned music-streaming service, three people familiar with the situation told Reuters."  

It is time for Apple to announce a full fledged subscription service - music, video, info - available across its product line.  As Apple has never worried about cannibalizing its current offerings, there should be no fear that a subscription service may affect download purchases.  The iTunes store will continue to survive and thrive.  And an Apple subscription service guarantees a measurable monthly revenue stream, something Wall Street would be pleased to see.  

Can we expect movement quickly?  It seems that Steve Jobs had been considering before his death.  "(Jimmy) Iovine said Jobs didn't want to pay the record companies enough, and thought the price would come down eventually."  The resurgence of music, thanks partly to iTunes, shows that not to be the case.  It seems that now might just be a good time, given recent stock performance, to pull the trigger and announce a subscription service.