As one of many announcements today, Apple revealed that iTunes Radio will be available on September 18th as part of the iOS 7 update.
Apple revealed iTunes Radio back in June when it revealed iOS 7, and it has been expected to be part of the update, but at the time, they just said it would be available in the fall. Now we have a hard date for both the operating system and Apple’s new Pandora competitor.
We learned last month that launch partners would include McDonald’s, Nissan, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and possibly a couple others. The deals range from “the high single-digit millions of dollars to tens of millions of dollars, and include a 12 month ad campaign,” according to a report from AdAge.
iTunes Radio will debut with over 200 stations and a catalog of music drawing from the iTunes Store. People can listen to stations, then download the songs if they like them. It can be used from an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC or Apple TV. It will include stations inspired by music users have already listened to, as well as stations curated by Apple and personalized genre-focused stations. Users will be able to create new stations based on specific songs.
The service will also provide exclusive premieres from top-selling artists, and will host special events like live streams from the iTunes Festival and other exclusive iTunes sessions. It will be integrated with Siri. You’ll be able to give it commands like “play more like this” or “play jazz radio” or ask who plays a particular song.
iTunes is free, with the ads. iTunes Match users will get the service without them.
Apple also revealed the iPhone 5S and 5C devices today.
Image: Apple