Join the businesses who have begun to edge out competitors by scouring the web for alternative data.

Last night, Apple ($AAPL) reported $84.3 billion in revenue for the December quarter, beating revisions made earlier this month. The figures appear to have satisfied analysts.

That's because virtually all analysts see good things in Apple's future as a service provider via its new streaming service. Noted UBS: Apple is in the "early phases of transitioning from distributor to content aggregator/provider."

Apple job listings data tracked over time reveals hiring efforts to build out the company's "Interactive Media Group" (IMG), which, based on job descriptions, is busy building out the base for the company's upcoming streaming service.

Apple is also busy hiring for its retail operations where it hopes to beat concerns that iPhone and hardware sales will continue to wane (more on that below).

Hiring for streaming service

Hiring for the group hit an apex in mid-January with 42 openings. According to descriptions in Apple job listings, the IMG is rseponsible for building media playback, video-on-demand and live streaming technologies:

"Our team is responsible for implementing software services around linear audiovisual media. This includes local media playback, video-on-demand and live streaming of multimedia content. Our media engine is active across Apple products such as Safari, iTunes, Photos, Music, TV on iOS and macOS as well as 3rd party applications."

Digging deeper in the listings for those with "Streaming" in their titles reveals a small but clear hunt for talented engineers who will help build the company's media technology.

Today, there are eight listings with "streaming" in their titles, 7 of which are for engineers: