Firm Sees Apple's (AAPL) 'iRadio' Service as 'Superior' to Pandora (P)
According to BTIG, Apple's "iRadio" service (we prefer "iListen," personally) will be "vastly superior" to Pandora's due to it not settling for current licensing standards. BTIG sees Apple aiming for "direct deals" with music labels. The new agreements, BTIG believes, will allow Apple to have better features, increased skips, extended caching, and a global presence.
News of Apple working on a competitor to Pandora broke on September 6th, with a WSJ reporting hinting at the move. Apple's latest product event -- where the iPhone 5 and new iPod lines were revealed -- also demonstrated a new iTunes interface, but made no mention of an integrated streaming radio service.
Pandora is down about 1 percent Wednesday morning.