Not surprisingly, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s new iTunes Radio is a success. The iPhone maker just revealed that iTunes radio reached 1 billion songs and 20 million listeners.
Apple’s iTunes Radio listeners
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) initially introduced iTunes Radio earlier this summer during the Worldwide Developers Conference. The actual service rolled out last month along with iOS 7. The radio service is also accessible on iTunes’ desktop software. Within five days of the launch, iTunes Radio reached over 11 million listeners.
Thanks to the growth in mobile technology, music streaming services are a huge trend. There are already numerous music services for tech consumers to choose from like Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, IHeartRadio, and Google Music All Access. Some services, like Pandora and iTunes Radio, allow users to play customized stations of their favorite artists. This allows listeners to hear their current favorites as well as discover new songs from similar artists. Other websites/apps like Spotify and Google Music All Access offer similar services, but they also allow users to hear music on demand as well as create their own customized playlists. Despite the overload of music streaming services available, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has found a way to make iTunes Radio successful.
Robert Nelson on Apple’s growth
Robert Nelson for Slash Gear added, “What that translates to is a total of 64 percent of Apple devices now running iOS 7. Certainly not a bad number when you consider the amount of current Jelly Bean users. Jabs at Android aside, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is also touting iTunes Radio as having more than 20 million listeners. Specifically, as having more than 20 million people as having listened to over a billion songs. And that is just in the U.S. market. The App Store now has more than 1 million apps that are accounting for a total of more than 60 billion downloads. The natural follow up here is to bring the App Store talk to developers. In this case, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has said developers have earned more than $13 billion dollars.”
Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), however, is still the most successful with 72.7 million active users in the past month. This will likely change now that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a viable competitor in the market.
