Will Spotify be the Killer App for iPhones?

Rumours of a mobile version of Spotify have been circulating for several months.  Spotify is already revolutionising how we listen to music in our homes but it looks set to do the same for music on the move.  The official blog for Spotify announced today that they had submitted an application to Apple for a Spotify app that they claim will be available in a few weeks.  An application for streaming music (that allows you to download playlists to the iPhone that you can listen to offline) appears to strike a blow to the very idea of an iPhone – that it’s a music player, which incidentally enables you to buy tracks directly from iTunes.

That’s why people are speculating as to whether Apple will approve the app, and there is no doubt that Apple could reject it on grounds that Spotify competes with the iTunes music store.  There is a precedent as Apple rejected the Podcaster app because it was seen as too similar to iTunes, an accusation that could easily be levied at Spotify.  At Revolver we believe that Apple will say yes to Spotify and if they don’t do it straightaway they will eventually because;

• Spotify has already achieved a phenomenal brand equity in the few months since it was launched
• The app will sell iPhones because it is so good and Apple makes more from devices than it does from the iTunes store
• Music streaming uses a lot of bandwidth and ultimately that’s commercially good for Apple and their partners
• If they say ‘no’, Spotify on Android phones may prove to be an iPhone killer

This last point is the real deal maker or breaker.  Spotify very cleverly released a demo video of an Android app in May and development has been taking place of both apps in parallel.  There are some great new Android powered phones on the way.  If Android phones used Spotify and iPhones could not it would go a long way to damage Apple’s dominance in the market.

One way or another mobile Spotify is on the way and subscription streaming is here to stay.  Buying music is so last century.