Pandora would be wise not to write-off Apple’s potent iTunes Radio

13 years ago

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.