Apple’s much rumored music streaming service “iRadio” was formally announced yesterday at WWDC 2013, it’s officially called iTunes Radio. Even when this service hadn’t been announced, there were rumors that it was similar to Pandora. After the announcement took place, the perception on social media was that Apple’s latest service might hit Pandora where it hurts. Pandora doesn’t think that way, rather it believes that iTunes Radio only brings Apple “on par with other streaming music services that have added radio into their feature sets.” The comments were made by Amanda Livingood, senior corporate communications manager at Pandora.
As a matter of fact, iTunes Radio is actually quite similar to Pandora. Just like the latter, it allows users to create radio stations based on songs or artists and discover music by listening to other online radio stations. However, Amanda points out that Pandora has spent the last 13 years “singularly focused on redefining radio.” Touting over 200 million users, Pandora has a strong footing in the market. While iTunes Radio will come bundled with all iOS devices as well as iTunes for Mac and PC, which would no doubt provide a big platform for bringing in users, Pandora isn’t limited to one platform. Its available for Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone apart from being integrated with thousands of consumer electronics as well as automobiles.
If you are a Pandora user on any Apple device, would you be willing to make the switch to iTunes Radio? Or do you believe that since they are somewhat similar in function, there’s no point in making the switch. Let us know in your comments!
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