Apple Music is finally available on Android

It took four months, but it's finally happening: Apple Music has launched on Android.

On Tuesday, the Cupertino tech giant's music streaming service rolled out on Google's mobile operating system. It's only the second ever app Apple has launched on Android.

(The first? "Move to iOS," an app designed to help users ditch Android smartphones and transfer data over to an iPhone.)

The launch should be considered a "beta" - meaning it's not necessarily the finished product. And just like on iOS (and on desktop), new users will be able to take advantage of a three-month free trial, letting them dip their toe into the water before committing.

Apple Music costs £9.99/$9.99 a month once the trial ends, or £14.99/$14.99 for a family version. (Although you won't be able to buy a family membership from within the Android app, according to Billboard.)

Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of software and service, spoke to TechCrunch about the decision to launch Apple Music for Android now. Cue suggested that the app could act as a kind of trojan horse for Apple's services, ultimately helping to convince Android users to switch to iPhone - an increasingly profitable model for Apple.

It's a playbook that the company has used before, to great success: "We did this with iTunes very early on when we did it for Windows," Cue said. "It's really important for artists to get as broad an audience as possible, and for us it's really important because it gives us an opportunity to interact with customers who may not have experienced any of our products before."

But another reason for the launch will be to simply boost the visibility of the app. After all, Apple entered the music streaming race relatively late in the game.

It has already managed to accrue 6.5 million paying users (who stuck around after their trials ended). But this is still significantly behind on-demand music streaming industry leader Spotify, which has 20 million paying users - and 75 million active users once you include those using the free, ad-supported version of the app. (There is no such free version of Apple Music.)

If Apple wants to keep up, it needs the largest possible potential audience - and that means Android.

You can download Apple Music for Android here »