Apple Music has convinced 6.5 million users to pay for the service past the free trial

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Following the expiration of the inaugural three-month free trial at the end of September, Apple Music has convinced approximately 6.5 million users to stay with the service as paying subscribers and currently has 8.5 million more customers on three-month trials, said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference last night in Laguna Beach, California.

“The runway here is really good,” Cook said. By comparison, the leading subscription music service Spotify currently has more than 20 million paying customers.

On the other hand, Spotify’s service has been on the market for a few years now, since 2008, so it is my personal opinion that Apple should be commended for getting a quarter of Spotify’s subscriber base in just a few short months.

The figure suggests that the company lost millions of users when the trial ended at the end of September. Following its June launch, the $9.99 per month service amassed eleven million trial members a month after launch. The figure jumped to fifteen million members in August, suggesting that nearly 60 percent of those users agreed to pay for the service after the trial period ended.

The Apple CEO has publicly confirmed at the conference that pre-sales for the new Apple TV will go live next Monday, October 26, with first shipments arriving toward the end of next week.

In addition, Cook discussed a variety of other topics at the conference, including Apple Watch, CarPlay and much more.

Source: The Wall Street Journal