Apple is set to up the pressure on Spotify by launching its own music streaming service and integrating it into its iOS. This means that the app will be added to millions of iPhones and iPads around the world as part of a future operating system update.

The massive user base that Apple has access to through its hardware will give the company a huge advantage in the streaming market.

As predicted last week, the product will be built off of Beats Music - the streaming platform that Beats headphones developed before Apple bought them earlier this year. It is believed that the service will be re-branded under the iTunes label. 

Full details of the product remain unclear, today's reports are based on information obtained by the Financial Times. They contacted Apple looking for more information but the company declined to comment.

Since the news leaked the New York Times has reported that Apple plan to compete on price and that they are trying to seriously undercut competitors.

The move is a reaction to changing listening habits and falls in legal download sales. After ten years of growth, 2013 was the first year that iTunes Store sales went down, falling by 2.1 percent. The rate of that decline has accelerated, and is reported to be at 13 percent in 2014.

When Apple paid $3 billion (€2.39 billion) to acquire Beats some questioned why they paid so much for the luxury headphone brand. It now seems that part of the reason was to make use of its streaming infrastructure.

Beats Music first launched in the United States in January of this year but failed to take off. It gained only 110,000 subscribers, whereas rivals Spotify has 12.5 million paying users.