The rumor was true, Apple is cooking up another trick to dominate even more the music world, as the Californian company is about to launch a streaming radio service which could greatly disrupt other services such as Pandora.
But why would people switch to a new service when they already have a good one? The LA Times reports that Apple’s service will offer an even more flexible type of music license from record labels, which ‘would allow Apple to select whatever song it wants to play next and tailor selections based on albums in listeners' iTunes music libraries’.
Basically music would be more customized to individuals, and Apple already knows all your tastes thanks to your iTunes content. I know it is not a radio but doesn’t Spotify already do that? I mean you can choose by yourself whatever you want to listen to with Spotify…
The company is currently negotiating deals with labels, and this could bring a lot of money in Apple’s already full pocket. Last week, Wall Street responded to the news with shares of Pandora tumbling 17% on Friday whereas Apple’s stock went up!
It is too early to know exactly what is going to happen, would it be free or require a subscription? The speculation is that it will be free with ads like the other services but also linked to iTunes. Still some people wonder why Apple even bothers with such a service, tons of app for internet radios (Last.fm, Pandora, AOL Radio,…) are already on iPhones, and internet radios are not making profit yet, even Pandora hasn’t made enough to report a profit according to the NY Daily News
But Apple has always known how to foresee the future, and it is realizing that streaming may well be the future of music. So iTunes may not be dead yet after all… watch out Pandora and Spotify!