Apple is reportedly looking to establish itself in the music streaming space by taking on the likes of Pandora and Spotify, services which allow users to build customizable online ‘radio stations’ based on their personal music preferences.
Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday evening that Apple’s free, ad-supported service will be made available across all of its hardware products, which include its mobile devices and Mac computers.
It could even be coming to PCs running Windows, though devices powered by Google’s Android OS would be excluded, the source told the WSJ. That doesn’t come as too much of a surprise, as Google and Apple continue their no-love-lost battle for supremacy in the mobile sector.
According to the WSJ, Apple is currently in talks with a number of music providers in an effort to hammer out licensing deals for the new service, though a launch is not expected for at least several months.
The WSJ points out that Apple could be a threat to existing services thanks to its firmly established and massive presence in online music sales and the fact that it already has such a large number of music-playing devices, such as the iPhone and iPod touch, in circulation.
Services like Pandora and Spotify, which stream songs based on a user’s existing tastes, have built up a steady following since arriving on the scene, with music fans able to access an enormous library of songs for free as long as they have a connection to the Internet.
But a quick look at the numbers show there could be rough waters ahead for these companies. Pandora has 54.9 million active users, while Spotify, which launched in the US last year, has 16 million. In comparison, there are more than 400 million iTunes accounts up and running. Do you think the Cupertino company will be able to blow away the competition with a streaming service of its own?
Doesn’t matter to me I am done with iProducts.
Doesn’t matter to me I am done with iProducts.
I’ll bet they actually invented this also.
at what point do we call apple a monopoly? they fight google, want nothing available to android and now spotify, to boot. and they won’t even support the drone app. i love my mac but i think the honeymoon period is over
I am convinced the very vocal anti-Apple crowd doesn’t even bother to read articles they comment on. Usually I see the same tired jokes that have been played out in countless other places. Crapple, did they patent that too, they’re going to sue God, etc…
I’m content with just tuning out the static, but it’s getting ridiculous. A person can’t seem to read a single Apple related article anymore, without having to weed through this crap!
So what if they want to join the streaming music business? Why shouldn’t they? They are the ones who proved that digital music can be highly profitable. Hopefully they bring something new to the table. I still like Pandora and use it often. Spotify, I can do without. I don’t really care for the Facebook account I have, let alone want to create a fake, as to not spam people who could really care less about what I’m listening to.
Seriously, find a new hobby people!
Apple can suck it. I likes my Spotify and Crapple needs to stop trying to steal everyone else’s ideas. They refused to listen years back when we all said we wanted this from them, but now they want in because others were smart enough to actually do it. Screw you Apple.
Wanna bet they patent a bunch of “ideas” they take from Spoitify and Pandora only to sue Spotify and Pandora for patent infringement? Even though they shouldn’t get so many of their patents, they do. Most of their patents they sue over aren’t even new technologies, let alone a technology at all. Somewhere, there’s a patent clerk that is making TONS of money from Apple’s kickbacks.
apple is trying way to hard in trying to take position as leader, cough “dictator” cough in the tech industry! whats next washers and dryers haha
Apple willing to take a di*k in the butt, sues every woman to ever live.
Why would I pay a *shitload* of money for someone to impose a bunch of restrictions on me? -1. Not for me.
I am convinced the very vocal anti-Apple crowd doesn’t even bother to read articles they comment on. Usually I see the same tired jokes that have been played out in countless other places. Crapple, did they patent that too, they’re going to sue God, etc…
I’m content with just tuning out the static, but it’s getting ridiculous. A person can’t seem to read a single Apple related article anymore, without having to weed through this crap!
So what if they want to join the streaming music business? Why shouldn’t they? They are the ones who proved that digital music can be highly profitable. Hopefully they bring something new to the table. I still like Pandora and use it often. Spotify, I can do without. I don’t really care for the Facebook account I have, let alone want to create a fake, as to not spam people who could really care less about what I’m listening to.
Seriously, find a new hobby people!
Apple has brought this criticism upon themselves from a long history of copying other people’s ideas, only to subsequently claim they invented the technology and sue based on that faulty claim.
As to your question why shouldn’t they join the streaming music business? They should and have every right to do so. No question. Competition is always good. But implicit in this is that every other company has the exact same right to join this, and other, markets to compete just the same.
But history has shown that Apple enters markets and immediately bullies existing players or any company that has the audacity to enter a market after Apple. That’s nonsense and the reason they’re becoming a despised company in many consumer’s minds.
inb4 Apple sues Spotify and Pandora for stealing their music streaming patents.
all
WHO CARES, APPLE SUCKS>>>DOWN WITH apple…