Does iTunes 11 Confirm iRadio Is Coming Soon?

Radio!

APPLE pushed version 11 of iTUNES to users over the weekend, and we couldn't help but notice the "Radio" button on the new menu. CNET reports APPLE "could soon take on PANDORA and SPOTIFY directly," quoting market-research firm BTIG RESEARCH in a new report that "APPLE will launch a streaming-music service at some point in 2013. The research outfit, which says that it came to the conclusion after holding interviews with industry executives, said APPLE's iTunes 11 launch YESTERDAY is only further proof the service is coming."

The report notes that, "BTIG has been saying for months that a music-streaming service it calls 'iRADIO' is in the works. In a blog post last month, the research firm said that it's possible APPLE's offering will trump that of PANDORA's."

BTIG wrote, "We expect APPLE's iRADIO to be vastly superior to PANDORA because APPLE is unwilling to settle for compulsory music licenses. Instead, expect iRADIO to seek direct deals with labels at premium rates enabling iRADIO to offer a superior feature set including a global solution (sites like PANDORA are limited to the U.S.), increased skips (compulsory licenses limit skips to six/hour) and maybe most importantly, extended caching so that wireless dead-zones are no longer a problem whether driving, flying or underground."

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