Pandora Stock Prices Plummet Following Apple Music Service Rumors

Pandora executives on Thursday night watched as the company’s stock lost 16 percent of its value. The company’s plummeting stock prices arrived just after rumors began circulating that Apple would launch a Pandora-like service of its own in the next few months.

While Apple is said to still be in contract negotiations with major record labels, that seemed like a good enough reason for investors to bail on Pandora, wiping out stock value that took the company three months to build up.

Much like Pandora’s service, Apple plans to serve up ads to customers, moving away completely from the pay-per-month premium service Pandora offers to remove ads. Also, just like Pandora’s service, rumors point to genre and artist selection options for Apple customers.

Pandora’s plummeting stock price comes just after the company reported better than expected quarterly earnings as more music listeners began turning to mobile devices for all of their music needs.

Pandora still has one advantage over Apple; according to reports, the new system would only focus on iOS and OS X device in the beginning, leaving Pandora with the entire Windows, Google Android, and other OS markets.

Apple, in the meantime, could attract some of Pandora’s advertisers away by promising a better ad serving experience through its own iAd service.

According to inside sources, Apple is attempting to gain better control over content from music publishers.

Pandora currently receives 45 percent of its use from iOS devices.

Would you switch to an Apple based music streaming service that is 100 percent ad supported?