Apple announces streaming service, Pandora’s stock drops

Apple shocked no one today by announcing that they were entering the hotly contested streaming market with their Apple Music service that will directly compete with Spotify, Pandora, YouTube and Rhapsody to become the dominant service for music streaming.

After the announcement the stocks of Pandora and RealNetworks each dropped by four percent today, with analysts clearly recognising the market heft of the world's most valuable company and their enormous iTunes library.

"Today we're announcing Apple Music," said the company's CEO Tim Cook at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. "It will change the way you experience music forever."

Apple's service will start at $9.99 per month, and will offer a family plan starting at $14.99 with up to six family members being able to be added. The service will officially launch on June 30.

The company has been rumoured to be making its entry into the streaming business since last year, when it purchased headphone and music streaming service Beats Electronics for $3 billion. With streaming fast becoming the most common means of listening to music the race is on for the dominant market share, but who would ever doubt Apple in an arms race?

[Via: Billboard]