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Apple to shift iAd focus to support new `iRadio` music service, sources say
Baku, June 5 (AZERTAC). “Apple Inc., planning to unveil a music-streaming service next week, is revamping how it sells mobile advertising to cater to businesses eager to reach customers as they listen to songs, people familiar with the changes said,” Adam Satariano reports for Bloomberg. “Engineers and sales staff in Apple`s iAd business have been charged with supporting the new digital-radio service, which the company plans to debut as early as June 10 at its annual developers conference, said the people, who asked not to be named because the moves aren`t public. 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.”
Satariano reports, “Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is shifting how the company courts advertisers after failing to make much headway against Google Inc. in the $4.11 billion U.S. mobile-ad market. Apple will seek to land big brands for the new streaming-radio service — akin to Pandora Media Inc.`s business model -scaling back its role as a network that places marketing messages in mobile software from its App Store.”
“Apple intends to make its new radio service free to users and supported by advertising, similar to how Pandora`s mobile app works, people familiar with the plans said,” Satariano reports. “Companies that agree to advertise at the start of the new radio service will be doing so in part to be an initial partner of Apple`s, similar to how companies such as AT&T Inc. and Best Buy Co. were among the first iAd participants in 2010, said a person involved in those first deals. Apple and the advertising brands won`t know how popular the new music offering will be with customers — or by extension, how much reach the ads will have — until it`s on the market for a while, this person said.”