David McManus looks at Apple Music, the tech story of the week

As this is supposed to be a technology column, it would be remiss not to pick up on the biggest news of the past week as once again Apple gathered to perform a carefully managed presentation of its new stuff.

We are all familiar with the format by now; various company reps with untucked shirts pace up and down a darkened stage in front of giant, colourful pictures of gleaming products and rows of numbers with more zeros than can be easily counted representing sales figures.

This was WWDC, a conference intended for the developers who make the software for Apple’s products. As such, focus was primarily targeted on coming updates to OS X for Macs, iOS for iPhones and iPads and fledgling family member, watchOS for, erm, the Apple Watch.

The very fact that the company spent considerable time and effort talking about version two software for a watch that has only been out for six weeks tells us all we need to know about the kick in the pants needed for that product.

Things went predictably as Apple showed off some crumbs of innovation amid a loaf of minor tweaks and borrowed ideas. Probably the biggest takes were that the UK will get Apple Pay this summer so we can swipe our iPhones at bemused cashiers in selected shops, the iPad will attempt real productivity gain by offering split-screen apps that run side-by-side and the Watch will run its own apps rather being limited to a dumb, tethered extension to an iPhone.

“We believe these are our best updates ever,” gushed CEO, Tim Cook, as though they could possibly be anything else.

Don’t get me wrong, I will be first in the queue to install the new software on my devices but there was little on show to really excite. This felt like so much hot air over relatively minor and incremental advances as Apple turns the majority of its attention to performance and security improvements this time around.

No bad thing, that.

With all the sales pitch out of the way Mr Cook paused for dramatic effect, clasped his hands together for an eager rub and delivered the punchline to so many Apple presentations of this type.

“But we have one more thing!” he announced, to nobody’s surprise.

What could it be? Well, actually, everyone knew precisely what it was because it had been so widely trailed.

Welcome, then, Apple Music. No, not iTunes but rather the company’s attempt to squeeze itself into the already crowded listening booth of streaming songs and playlists.

Pricing for a single account is likely to match with Spotify at £9.99 to access Apple’s library of tracks, although there is no word yet on how extensive that library will be.

This new service carries no guarantees of success for Apple. Unlike when it revolutionised music with iTunes, it is not creating a new market here.

A three-month free trial will help us all decide if we like it when it officially launches later this year.