Hear 2.0

Radio on the iPod in 2008

But not quite the way you had hoped.

Last week Apple's Steve Jobs announced that a software development kit will be made available for the WiFi-enabled iPod Touch (and iPhone) next February.

What this means is that developers will be able to build third-party applications designed for the iPod (they can already do this via the web interface, but that adds another usability hurdle which will fall come February).

And I have no doubt that very high on the list of priorities will be to empower the new iPods to provide radio via streaming.

So the good news is that radio will once again become portable in 2008.

But the bad news is that the radio world will be flattened and thousands of choices from across the globe will have equal access to the ears of your audience.

If anyone has an edge here, what do you want to bet it's the streaming stations already indexed on iTunes?

May the best radio brands win.

Comments