Bloomberg reports that Apple’s iAd engineers and sales personnel are gearing up to handle new duties handling advertising for Apple’s new “iRadio” streaming service. Apple is widely expected to debut the advertiser supported service next week at WWDC.
Bloomberg, via MacRumors:
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. The new service will be different from Apple’s iTunes in that the songs played won’t be limited to what a user has purchased, and listeners won’t own the songs they stream for free.
The shift in iAd’s focus to buttress the music service is being made by Eddy Cue, the senior vice president who oversees iTunes, App Store and iAd, as well as Todd Teresi, whom Apple hired last year from Adobe Systems Inc. to lead the company’s advertising business.
iAd was originally launched as a way for developers to earn money on the iOS platform. An expansion to audio ads for iRadio would be new territory for the company
Bloomberg reports that Apple is using the data it holds for targeting users, which include movies, music, apps and more to entice advertisers to iAd.
