App Approval May Reveal Apple's Ulterior Motives

[Michael Essany]

image via CNET

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think there's more than we realize behind Apple's decision to approve a streaming music application from Spotify for use on the iPhone.

For a while we had heard that the app would be denied for obvious but unstated reasons - that it competes with Apple's iTunes. Historically, Apple has also rejected apps that "duplicate existing phone functionality." So approving Spotify represents yet another divergence.

CNET, which offers a nice video preview of the app, had this to say:

While the news is sure to excite Spotify's current user base in Europe and the U.K., music fans in the U.S. have yet to experience what all the fuss is about.

But rumors haven't subsided that Spotify will soon make waves in the US by, for starters, pushing their streaming-music service in the States. Ironically, Spotify has seemingly found an unlikely ally in Apple, which may very well be interested in testing the waters against other subscription based music services. Or, Apple is simply growing confident enough in its brand rather than its lock on music sales to stand up to an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Either way, music lovers have got to be happy about this development and the possibilities that emerge from it.

[disturbedreaper]

sounds cool and we all know that apple is crazy i realy think apple just dosn't know what it is doing

[Go Gators]

You know this app will be pulled off the app store like so many other apps once Apple exec's realize it will take from iTunes profits. Everybody is learning how Apple cares more about every penny they make rather than what their customers want.

[mdc929]

apple needs to figure out wtf they're doing and stick to it

[dale1v]

sounds cool and we all know that apple is crazy i realy think apple just dosn't know what it is doing

You know this app will be pulled off the app store like so many other apps once Apple exec's realize it will take from iTunes profits. Everybody is learning how Apple cares more about every penny they make rather than what their customers want.

apple needs to figure out wtf they're doing and stick to it

Yes, because Apple is a multi-billion dollar charity whose success is based on indecision.

[rel1215]

Yes, because Apple is a multi-billion dollar charity whose success is based on indecision.

haha yeah, nothing says "change your ways" like increasing iphone sales year after year and 40% of ALL smartphone profits.....can anyone name any other major tech companies reporting record quarterly earnings in this economy? got a feeling they're going to stick with their strategy.

[Jahooba]

Aside from reports about its profits, lately there hasn't been any news about Apple that's not totally bizarre. That company must be like some kind of weird religious cult -- they probably put on white robes and listen to Enya while sniffing coke when they design their products. Not that there's anything wrong with Enya, or coke, or how the wind flows under a well-stitched robe, but that's hardly how a business should be run. They should know better. Darn Hippies.

[jayson9]

haha yeah, nothing says "change your ways" like increasing iphone sales year after year and 40% of ALL smartphone profits.....can anyone name any other major tech companies reporting record quarterly earnings in this economy? got a feeling they're going to stick with their strategy.

Yeah, no sh!t! Can't wait till the 4G/3Gss/3Gst/ (or whatever) is released next year either.........

[bengo]

There's Imeem and Pandora to stream music on the iPhone. You can also get satelite radio. It doesn't seem like they are concerned with iTunes profits.

[rwin84]

This is subscription based though^^

[A_DuB187]

This is interesting news. I wonder if Apple will stick with it.

[PlatoTheForms]

This is subscription based though^^

and not hard, with pandora u just put your email and your done lol

[StealthBravo]

When will we see it in the UK Store?