Will the gadget maker allow a music-subscription service on its iPhone?
Apple, of course, has a big business to protect. While iPod sales have sagged over the past year, Apple’s iTunes Store is thriving. Sales of “other music-related products and services” on iTunes have soared 17% to $958 million for the quarter ended in June from $819 million during the year-ago quarter. Spotify’s mobile application could disrupt that business. It allows subscribers to stream music directly to their mobile phones. Unlike Pandora, which allows users to build custom channels based on songs and artists they like, Spotify allows users to pick and choose the songs they want to hear. It also allows users to save those songs to their mobile device, so they can listen to them without an Internet connection. Of course, giving users almost any song they want for a monthly fee is hardly a new idea. It’s one of the chief draws for Microsoft’s ( MSFT – news – people ) beleaguered Zune media player. But it hasn’t been an option on the iPhone. No doubt that’s in part to protect Apple’s
