iTunes Radio To Launch September 18th [OFFICIAL] Is It A Pandora Killer?
Alongside two new iPhones lines and other innovations shared during Apple's official press event today, came the news that iTunes Radio will finally launch on September 18th, as part of an overall update to iOS 7. The Pandora inspired music streaming service will be ad-supported or free with a $25 per year iTunes Match subscription.
iTunes Radio will include the ability to create and find tune custom stations. But as GigaOm's Om Malik pointed out in his live blog of today's event, Apple has not been clear on how they are using metadata to make music choices.
Is iTunes Radio A Pandora Killer?
Given the number of devices is will be installed on this month and its ad supported model, iTunes Radio will launch with millions of users. Though if you've spent months fine tuning your Pandora and Songza stations, do you really want to start all over again now?
The real shift is more likely to happen long term as users experience the combination of iTunes, iTunes Radio, the new iOS7 and an improved Siri (watch an early demo video).
For a deeper dive, read this discussion between Kyle Bylin of sidewinder.fm and Jason Herskowitz on whether ITunes Radio will attract the interest of the mainstream consumer:
