In 2009, Apple (News - Alert) bought LaLa, generating rumors of Apple getting into the home entertainment streaming market. But mostly it was just talk with no viable action.

But it looks like Apple is going to take another shot at it, this time aiming for Pandora (News - Alert).

Apple has been talking with music labels to license music for a streaming radio service to compete with Pandora. The new radio service would stream over all Apple devices via apps and Microsoft (News - Alert) PCs, but not over Android devices.

Offering users customized streams would definitely pose Apple as a major competitor in the growing Internet radio field, competing with Pandora, iHeartRadio and Slacker, which are offered by the radio giant, Clear Channel (News - Alert) Communications.

For more insight on Apple launching home entertainment streaming, check out Rich Tehrani’s blog on TMCnet.

But some analysis are confused over Apple’s move into Internet radio, noting that many competitors like Pandora already distribute their services through Apple devices via apps. The Internet radio business also seemed too small for Apple to get involved with, generating less than $1 billion a year in revenue.

 “What’s in this for Apple?” asked Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. “Pandora already does a great job, so does iHeartRadio, so does Last.fm. Why do we need another one?”


Image via Shutterstock

Pandora was founded by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft and Tim Westergren with the idea of bringing different styles of music together into a predictable pattern. According to Pandora in 2008, “[The] Pandora app becomes one of the most consistently downloaded apps in the Apple store.”  

In 2010, “Pandora is present on more than 200 connected consumer electronic devices ranging from smart-phones to TVs to set-top boxes to Blu-ray players and is able to stream visual, audio, and interactive advertising to computers, smart-phones, iPads, in-home connected devices and even cars.”

All things considered, Apple’s move into Internet radio may or may not be the killer of Pandora, but the shot will be heard by everyone.

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