Apple expected to introduce online radio service, sources say

Apple is probing deeper into the music industry with a new online radio service. Though there is no official word on this app or browser-based service, Wall Street Journal has reported that the Cupertino-based company is in talks with officials from record labels for rights to their tracks on the radio.

The service is expected to be akin to what Spotify and Clear Channel Communications’ iHeartRadio, that offer the service online via a web browser. However, it will also compete with the standalone app-based radio service by Pandora Media. The shares of Pandora were down 18 percent on Friday after the word got out.

Online radio services are usually free of charge and attract advertisements that help the service providers with the finances. Apple is expected to not to change the basic model, its service will be free of charge, however, downloads will cost the same as iTunes, according to experts.

The company already dominates the music industry with its iTunes platform and a free listening-source would also it to cement its footing in the domain.

“Creating a free (music) service makes sense for Apple and benefits the record labels due to unparalleled cross-selling opportunities,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in a research note Friday. “Due to the dominance of iTunes and the depth of integration with Apple devices, we envision that an Apple Internet radio offering would allow users to purchase and download songs during play on Internet radio virtually instantaneously.”

While the music industry is in the bag for Apple, video watching is still at Achilles’ heel. Apple TV, the online streaming set-top box is not attracting that much attraction at it should have. Instead, Roku offers more content on its devices than Apple. The upcoming television from the Mac-makers is also not expected to arrive this year or the next, according to analysts. The main reasons behind are the reservations by television networks that Apple-interface-domination threatens the existing network models.

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Posted by Usman Khalid on Sep 11 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.