Mobile Advertising About to Get an Earful from Apple
As speculation mounts that Apple will unveil its rumored “iRadio” streaming music platform at WWDC next week, Apple is reportedly redirecting its advertising strategy to capitalize on businesses looking to reach consumers through the planned Internet radio service.
Sources close to the change in advertising tactics indicate that Apple has directed iAd engineers and sales staff to aggressively support its music streaming service, even though the formal launch is likely still months away.
The music service won’t be publicly available until later this year, when Apple’s iOS 7 mobile-operating system is released, one person said.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is searching for new ways to bring in advertising revenue after iAd largely came up short in making a significant dent in the lucrative mobile ad market still dominated by Google.
“Apple intends to make its new radio service free to users and supported by advertising, similar to how Pandora’s mobile app works,” Bloomberg reports, citing knowledgeable sources. “The new service will be different from Apple’s iTunes in that the songs played won’t be limited to what a user has purchased, and listeners won’t own the songs they stream for free.”
