Apple’s next move to take on Spotify

Adam Levy for The Motley Fool:

Apple is eager to take on its biggest rival in music streaming, Spotify… Apple’s next effort to catch up might be an investment in original podcasts…

The podcast originated on Apple devices. (It’s named after this device Apple used to make called an iPod — ever heard of it?) And the vast majority of podcast listening still happens on Apple devices. The Podcast app pre-installed on iPhones still accounts for 50% to 70% of listening for most podcasts, according to industry executives cited by Bloomberg.

But Spotify is coming on strong. Over the last couple of years, it has built up a base of podcast listeners, and the platform now accounts for 10% to 20% of listeners.

MacDailyNews Take: Real strong. And linux will soon own the desktop, don’t cha know.

Exclusive podcasts may be a key to competing with Spotify for music subscribers. Apple has a great home-field advantage with music streaming. In fact, Apple Music is more popular than Spotify on Apple devices. Where Apple Music falls short is when someone wants to listen to music on non-Apple devices. Apple has been taking steps to make its service more usable across devices, but it still can’t compete with Spotify on a more neutral court.

As such, if Apple’s investments in podcasts can help attract or retain iPhone and other Apple hardware users, it stands to benefit Apple Music.

MacDailyNews Take: As we just wrote yesterday, Apple laid the foundation for podcasting. The name “podcast” itself is derived from Apple’s revolutionary iPod. Apple’s podcast listeners are a strong demographic with disposable income and the proven will to spend it. Apple is smart to bankroll exclusive podcasts to help drive their services business.

Sleep tight, Spotify.