iTunes Radio is Apple’s foray into online music streaming.
Harry C. Marks writes for TechPinions, “Ask Pandora CEO Joe Kennedy about it and he’ll tell you he isn’t worried one bit: ‘We’ve now been around for eight years. We’ve seen competitors large and small enter the market and, in some cases, exit the market […] I’ve never seen an analysis that identifies an effect from any competitor … we don’t see the picture changing.'”
“We’ve heard this before. BlackBerry neé RIM, Nokia, and Microsoft all shrugged off Apple’s iPhone when it was first announced and look how well that went,” Marks writes. “Competitors are quick to write off Apple as a mild nuisance until it proves itself as not only a worthy adversary, but an industry-changing one. It happened with the iPod, the iPhone, the MacBook Air, and the iPad. On the services side, iTunes influenced Best Buy, Wal Mart, Microsoft, Nokia, Google, and many others to open their own music stores. Why should iTunes Radio be any different?”
Marks writes, “There’s still time before iTunes Radio hits the market and I’d wager there’s a little more time before it really gains some ground, but if Pandora wants to keep up, it needs to figure out its next step because Apple’s already three ahead.”
Much more in the full article – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, we’ve been using iTunes Radio at get-togethers all summer long. It works, it’s hands-off, it’s fun, and it already has fragmandroid settlers asking us when Apple will release iTunes Radio for their pretend iPhones. (Answer: “Never. Next time, get a real iPhone.”)
So, after much use, we have a simple prediction for the Pandoras of the world: Pain.
Related articles:
Apple’s iTunes Radio to debut in September with McDonald’s, Nissan, P&G, Pepsi sponsorships – August 21, 2013
Apple’s new iTunes Radio is designed to be the largest streaming radio service – July 13, 2013
Apple announces iTunes Radio – launches this fall – June 10, 2013
Pandora would be wise to revisit their business model and value proposition.
will itunes radio only be available for ios7 users? i dont see why they cant make the app available for others. I use a 4th gen ipod touch. I hope there will be a standalone app
And Apple hopes that you’ll buy a new iPod touch.
the 4th gen iPod Touch can upgrade to the free iOS7 – so no issues – you can too enjoy iTunes Radio
if you look at the bottom of http://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/features/ it shows what devices io7 works on. even though it shows the iphone4 it only shows the 5th gen ipod touch
I like Pandora. But if their CEO is smart he will move quickly to make adjustments to the service. The Apple steamroller is headed their way.
Mr. Kennedy, I’ve been a Pandora One subscriber for a few years now, and I am planning on dropping your service when ITunes Radio is released. I don’t dislike Pandora, in fact, it’s great. However, I don’t need both.
simple solution – save money flipkal – use Apple iTunes Radio
The fact that iRadio will be add free for anyone that ponies up the nominal fee for iTunes match is a big deal.
This makes services like Pandora redundant and NOBODY likes paying for the same thing twice.
Pandora (ad free?) is currently $36 a year vs $25 for iTunes match.
If you are in the market to subscribe to a music service the choice seems a no brainer to me.
I let my annual subscripion expire, I’m pretty sure Apple Radio will fit my needs just as well, and from my experiences with it already, theres some things I really like about it.
I’ve been using Pandora for years now along with other services. I’ve been using iTunes Radio for a while now in beta. iTunes Radio is better than Pandora and other services right now while still in beta.
The issue though is how Apple will treat iTunes Radio… Will the service itself be a product, or will it always be a value add exclusive to iOS and iTunes? If Apple releases an API, then you could see iTunes Radio on things like Sonos, smart TVs, and even Android devices. If this occurs, Pandora is dead, and so are similar services.
However, if iTunes Radio remains an exclusive service, Pandora and others will still find success on other platforms.
Curious – why/how is it better than pandora?
(Gotta like that Apple has not programmed iOS to autocorrect pandora yet like it did out of the box with Facebook)
iTunes Radio has a more relevant and more diverse genre library. With Pandora, I’m often hearing something that I don’t feel is a relevant match at all, but then find I’m hearing it over and over again. When Pandora first came out, it was great, because there wasn’t much to compare it to. It’s still a great service, just not as good at finding matching songs as iTunes Radio is. I find myself buying more songs/albums when listening to iTunes Radio, which is really the indicator. I’m hearing more songs I like that I had never heard before.
I think Apple will have an advantage here as it has a huge data set to work from with people who have purchased from their store.
Cool. Thanks!
Then he doesn’t understand that to Apple, this is a feature, not a business model.
Who was that CEO from Creative Technology, and then there was Ed Coligan, then that bozo who liked plastic buttons and perhaps the guy who said “amateur hour is over.” What ever happened to them and their products?
The quote from Palm’s CEO Ed Colligan at the time of the iPhone launch is the one that came to mind.
“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
The big deal will be one touch buy. With Pandora you have to go through several selections and then type in your password. That’s dangerous if you’re driving and hear a song you like.
The impulse factor will be huge.
Siri should be able to help you keep safe with your impulses while driving.
It would be neat to have a mode where you can flag up interesting songs ( Wish List ) with a view to buying them soon.
Slacker is 10X better then pandora. I never understand why people are so hung up on pandora. Slacker has allot larger database of music, it has the radio caching which is great for those in spotty service areas. I think slacker has better pics because if i chose an 80s song it picks other 80s songs. Pandora wants to pick another song that sounds like it. So if it has heavy synth and dance rhythms it wants to give me some new band i never heard of. Not what i want.
And now sirius has the MYSXM app that looks promising