Amidst a flurry of reports and speculation regarding Apple’s iTunes Music Store and Radio strategy in the past few weeks, Apple has begun posting job listings indicating they are gearing up for major improvements to iTunes.
Four listings on Apple’s Jobs page show they are interested in hiring iTunes Software Engineers, a Senior Software Engineer for iTunes Radio, and an iTunes Recommendations Platform Software Engineer. From the descriptions:
Last month, we reported that Apple is considering moving iTunes Radio to a standalone application in iOS 8 to boost visibility. In following weeks, Billboard reported that Apple is considering both an iTunes client for Android, as well as an on demand streaming service.
-Build new features, resolve issues, and optimize performance for iTunes Radio on iOS -Participate in cross-functional teams on upcoming features
Following up that report yesterday, Billboard details that Apple is also working on a dramatic overhaul of the entire iTunes Store experience, due to both declining sales and a lack of traction from iTunes Radio.
Last but not least, in an article resurfacing today by Robert Hutton, he claims Apple is set to introduce hi-res, 24 bit audio in iTunes by the beginning of June, coinciding with both WWDC 2014 as well as the release of the first 3 of many Led Zeppelin remasters.
Assuming all of these reports pan out, Apple obviously has an almost insurmountable amount of work ahead of itself in order to introduce these changes within a timely manner. It’s likely that these job postings reflect Apple’s need for more software talent on the iTunes side of the business.
