Is Apple planning to shut down the Beats Music streaming service?

Apple will shut down the Beats Music service according to one report on Monday, while another claims Apple may simply ditch the brand and fold the platform into iTunes.

TechCrunch brings word from ‘five sources including several prominent employees at Apple and Beats’ that the service, acquired this year, will be discontinued sooner rather than later.

The report asserts the absence of Beats as a baked-in app in iOS 8 or the forthcoming Apple Watch was a sign the writing was on the wall for the streaming service.

It claims Beats engineers are already being shifted to other projects at Apple and that the acquisition was mainly about selling headphones and bringing Johnny Iovine and Dr. Dre on board.

However, in a Recode report, published an hour later, it was claimed Apple has no plans to pull down the shutters on Beats Music, but may alter the branding at some point.

According to the secondary report, which references conversations with ‘people familiar with Apple’s thinking,’ the company may modify the service and change the brand name.

That would suggest Beats Music could be folded into the iTunes brand to reduce confusion and perhaps improve the floundering iTunes Radio service.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr claimed the TechCrunch story was “not true,” so it seems that, although something is afoot, cutting the streaming platform completely is currently not in Apple’s thinking.

Do you think Apple should consolidate it’s streaming brands into one almighty Spotify killer? Or has that ship already sailed? Share your thoughts below.

Read more: Opinion: Apple needs to improve Beats audio quality