Pandora Shares Are Plummeting
Today, BTIG's Rich Greenfield issued a report saying "competitive threats are growing" to the Internet radio provider — mostly in the form of new Apple products. He says he found the latest version of iTunes radio much more user friendly:
We have noticed an increasing amount of content (independents artists such as Arcade Fire were missing from the first beta build) and increasingly accurate/fast Siri performance. Note how there are NO annoying pop-ups display ads like you find in Pandora.
He also noted Apple was making inroads on improving "eyes-free Siri" for automobile use, an area in which Pandora recently saw growth. Plus, he says, Google will eventually release a Youtube music service.
Greenfield included the following video to demonstrate the latest version of iTunes radio. Fast forward to the 1:50-minute mark for a particularly cool moment showing how easy it is to voice-call your preferred station: