Since early September, rumors of an Apple radio service have been in the air. Several reports noted that the service is indeed on its way to compete with Spotify, RDIO, Pandora, and others, and the Wall Street Journal said we could expect it “in a matter of months.” However, CNET said today it might take longer.
Greg Sandoval of CNET reported that Apple has still yet to gain major record labels for the rumored music streaming service:
The rumors continue to swirl but multiple music industry sources have told CNET in recent weeks, the deal that Apple has put on the table for iRadio is not being warmly received the major record companies: Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.
They say at minimum, a deal with all the majors is nowhere near to being completed.
Bloomberg reported in October that the service is set to launch in Q1 2013. Additionally, the publication added that the deals with the record labels would be reached in mid-November. However, as we see today, that may not be the case.
Apple’s radio service is rumored to be free and supported by Apple’s iAd platform. Unsurprisingly, it is said to work across all of Apple’s devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and it may even be accessible via Windows machines.
