Music streaming service Spotify has created an app allowing it to ply its wares on the Apple iPhone – but it may not be welcomed by Apple. Similarities between Spotify and iTunes have already been remarked on, and it’s this which is seen as the main contention, with Apple possibly not wishing to approve a product which may compete too directly with its own music service.
Other streaming services such as Pandora and Last.fm have already been approved for the iPhone, but they’re more like online radio, whereas Spotify allows you to pick and play individual tracks, just like iTunes, except that you don’t have to pay for them.
On the face of it, the app looks extremely user-friendly, allowing you to stream music in the same way as you would on your desktop, as well as share and add to playlists. A particularly clever option is that you can earmark playlists for listening offline, so if you go beyond your Wi-Fi or phone network connection (it should work over either), you can still listen to music.
If approved, the app will only be available to Spotify’s premium subscribers, who pay £9.99 a month to avoid listening to ads on the service. The company needs to add more premium subscribers in order to become profitable – current estimates show that premium subscribers comprise just 1% of users.
Apple’s approval process could take a few weeks, we’ll let you know the result as soon as we can.