Though Apple has released the iTunes Radio feature along with iOS 7, its capabilities seem limited owing to the US-only availability. Reports are now emerging that Apple could be mulling rollout of iTunes Radio to English-speaking countries outside the US by early 2014, in a bid to beat industry leader Pandora. Bloomberg has reported that iTunes Radio is set to rollout to countries like Australia, New Zealand as well as Canada and the UK by early next year. While arch rival Pandora has already set up shop in the Asia-Pacific countries, iTunes Radio will hit the UK and Canada before Pandora does. According to the report, Apple seems to be trying to move faster than Pandora since it has signed agreements for international rights with the Universal Music Group and other companies, said a source. Pandora, on the other hand, relies on rights granted by government entities and not rights of this sort, thereby limiting its services to US, Australia and New Zealand only.
Slowly rolling out
Apple launched iTunes Radio in the US last month with the release of iOS 7 and ended picking up 11 million listeners in the first five days of its launch. With the impending international rollout of iTunes Radio, Apple seems to be mimicking the rollout of the iTunes Store from years ago. When it was first launched, the Store was available to US only and then gradually made available internationally. Previously it was reported by 9to5Mac that Apple could be looking to expand iTunes Radio to Canada after a job listing surfaced. Unsurprisingly, India figures nowhere in the radar of Apple or competitors like Spotify and Pandora for expansions. Of course, to expand within the sub-continent, the companies would have to go through several legal hassles but it looks like it will be a long, long wait for India to get on-demand music streaming services on the lines of iTunes Radio.
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