Apple's iAd Staff Preparing to Handle iRadio Advertising Duties

Apple's iAd engineers and sales personnel are preparing to handle new advertising duties to support Apple's new streaming music service nicknamed iRadio, Bloomberg reports. Apple hopes to launch the major new advertising-supported initiative next week at WWDC.

In an extensive report, citing 'people familiar with the changes', Bloomberg reports that the company has been negotiating with major advertising companies to line up exclusive launch advertisers, similar to when it launched iAd in 2010.

Apple intends to make its new radio service free to users and supported by advertising, similar to how Pandora’s mobile app works, people familiar with the plans said. The new service will be different from Apple’s iTunes in that the songs played won’t be limited to what a user has purchased, and listeners won’t own the songs they stream for free.

The shift in iAd’s focus to buttress the music service is being made by Eddy Cue, the senior vice president who oversees iTunes, App Store and iAd, as well as Todd Teresi, whom Apple hired last year from Adobe Systems Inc. to lead the company’s advertising business.

When iAd launched, it was envisioned mainly as a way to help developers earn money on the iOS platform. With the expansion to audio ads for iRadio, iAd is going into new territory for the company. As it stands, iAd revenue remains a drop in the bucket for the company.

Bloomberg says that Apple has enticed advertisers to iAd by mentioning the data it holds for targeting users, including purchased movies, music, apps, books and more.

The site also says the iRadio service will launch later this year alongside the public release of iOS 7, much the same way that iTunes Match was announced at WWDC but was released months later.