How Pandora Soothed The Savage Beast
Pandora was conceived, but it wasn’t born overnight. It took
almost a year to develop software for the new business. The company had to
refocus again when it became clear it hadn’t hired enough people with expertise
in advertising-supported businesses. And when Apple launched the iPhone App
store in 2008, the company “literally dropped everything” it was doing to build
an app.
It paid off: Pandora is now the second most popular iPhone
app. It has more than 150 million registered users in the U.S., 55 million of
whom listen each month. In 2011, the company saw its first quarterly profit.
But a new savage beast, Apple, is said to be moving onto
Pandora's turf by creating its own streaming radio service, according to The
Wall Street Journal. Those rumors sent the company's stock price tumbling, but
it's unlikely that Pandora will go the way of the record store anytime soon.
Its successful streaming radio model represents only 6% of the national radio
market, says Kennedy. Which means that Pandora still has room to grow.
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